O’Connell has ‘a little hip problem’ but is expected to be fit
Declan Kidney revealed O’Connell is suffering from “a little hip problem”, but the coach is confident his captain will be fit for the trip to Coventry’s Ricoh Arena.
O’Connell was selected to play Ospreys, but didn’t make the journey to Cork on Saturday. After Friday’s ‘Captain Run’, the second row felt his hip was sore and, as a precaution, Kidney withdrew him from the starting 15. Flanker Niall Ronan was originally selected, but also withdrew owing to a back problem.
“Niall woke up with a back spasm on Wednesday morning, trained Friday, but said he could only run 90%,” said Kidney. “That was an honesty call from him. After the run on Friday, Paul went home and felt sore. He has a little hip problem and wasn’t good to go either. We’ll have to see how he pulls up over the next 48 hours. Hopefully they’ll both present themselves up for selection next week.”
Ronan O’Gara’s comeback is on schedule and his knee injury is expected to get the all clear today. O’Gara’s place on Saturday went to Paul Warwick, who was hugely impressive, as was the evergreen Shaun Payne.
“Paul did very well, but a guy who is doing very well in the background too is Jeremy Manning,” said Kidney. “They’ve been pushing one another along. There is that competition for places. We’re trying to make it a squad whereby we don’t become a one- or two-man team. All those players coming through are vital for the good of the team. I also like to think they help one another to become better players.”
Kidney described Saturday’s win as “huge” and paid tribute to the Musgrave Park support which, he felt played a part in victory. “It was a huge win because what we want to try and do is show a level of consistency. We’d lost two home Magners League games and it’s going to be very costly to us by the end of the season. We want to put on a good show all the time, especially at home because the support tonight was brilliant especially in the first half. It would have given any team a lift. And again in the second half. Even though it rained, nobody was leaving early. That type of support deserves our best efforts and it gives everyone in the dressing room a lift.”
Asked what impressed him most about the win, Kidney responded: “The way we stuck at it. I made a lot of changes all at one go (in the 62nd minute). That could have upset the rhythm. We gave away a try down the short-side — that could be because of the changes I made or maybe it was a good try from Ospreys. However, don’t get me wrong, the players who came on all played very well too. It was the co-ordination too, the team was up and going. So you need to watch that. But you need to give those players a run-out too and they all did very well.”
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