Lima likely to see some action against Dragons
Brian Lima, lest you didn't know, is owner of the orthopedic nickname due to his tackling powers.
Signed by Munster for the remainder of the season, he will join up with his new team-mates in Cork today after completing the medical formalities in Dublin this morning.
While Munster coach Alan Gaffney hasn't decided what role the 33 year-old Samoan should play on Friday, there is little doubt he'll be a key player in the against Biarritz nine days later.
"It would be hard ask to ask him to play on Friday after travelling all the way from Hong Kong but if he is to play against Biarritz, we've got to give him some game time," said Gaffney.
"Whether we start with him or put him on the bench has yet to be determined. Whether it's too much to expect Brian to go out and play 13, which I think is the most difficult position to play in the back line, when he's only been with us for one week, I don't know.
"He has the quality to do it, whether I have the intestinal fortitude to do something like that is another question.
"He doesn't know any calls, he doesn't know defensive structures but it's going to be a very quick learning curve. That's why he must have some time on Friday night. He'll definitely be in the mix on Sunday week.
"The one thing Brian Lima brings is that he does break the line. You saw the angles he ran in the North v South game where he scored two tries by running very good lines.
"He's very effective in one-on-one defensive situations but he does have to fall in with the defensive structures we have. A player of his experience should be able to do that pretty easily."
It was after the injury to Christian Cullen, which ruled him out of the remainder of the season, that Alan Quinlan came up with the idea that Munster should go after Lima. "Quinny's" brainwave was shared by Cullen, who knows him from his days in New Zealand, when Lima played for both Auckland and Waikato.
Gaffney has yet to actually meet his new signing, and doesn't pay any attention to "the chiropractor" pseudonym preferring instead to listen to people like Cullen and Wayne Smith, formerly of Northampton and now part of the All Blacks coaching team.
"They came back with glowing reports," said Gaffney. "Cully described him as a fantastic guy and Smith told me he was a very good player and that if I had thoughts of bringing somebody in that I couldn't go wrong with Lima.
"I understand he hasn't been playing any fifteens over the past 12 months. He's been purely on the sevens circuit so the North v South game was his first fifteens in a year or so and he didn't do too badly, did he?"
The bad news for Munster is that Denis Leamy aggravated his hamstring injury in training and will not have recovered by the Biarritz game. Cullen will again be replaced at full-back by Shaun Payne over the next fortnight.
"He played well there for us on Friday against Ulster. He brings some good attributes to 15 he likes to run the ball, he loves to counter and to have the ball in hand."
Gaffney and his backroom team are also busy lifting the morale of those suffering the ill-effects of Ireland's disappointing Six Nations finale.
"The best recuperation with some guys is to play; for others it is not to play. They were in good spirits today," said Gaffney.
The coach went on to stress that they will take it fairly easy this week, stressing that "some people think more is best, but it's not."
However high quality contact sessions are planned for next week. Rob Henderson has a viral complaint that's causing a little concern and it remains to be seen where the nationals (and especially Paul O'Connell who faces the IRB citing commission today arising out of an incident in Cardiff) stand.
Gaffney and his assistant Brian Hickey are travelling to Biarritz on Friday to watch their Heineken Cup opponents in their French Championship clash with Stade Francais.
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