Kidney resigned to coping without O’Connell in opener

MUNSTER coach Declan Kidney is resigned to being without captain Paul O’Connell for his side’s first Heineken Cup outing this season.

A persistent back injury has meant that O’Connell has yet to feature for the province since returning from World Cup duty with Ireland in France.

“If he’s fit to take part in training next week, we’ll see how he goes,” Kidney said. “But time is running tight for him and we wouldn’t be building him into our plans right now because of the nature of the injury.”