O’Callaghan bemoans Hayes’ loss as appeal decision delayed

MUNSTER have yet to receive a written copy of the IRFU disciplinary committee’s report on the suspension imposed on John Hayes, and will delay a decision on whether to appeal the severity of the six-week ban until they do so.

Hayes, who has already made 87 appearances in the tournament, misses tomorrow’s Heineken Cup match against Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens with Tony Buckley standing by as his immediate replacement as tight-head prop. A new rule introduced by ERC for this year’s competition and intended to deal with any further Bloodgate activity, states that there “must be a minimum of six players who can play in front-forward positions” in each panel of 23.

Accordingly, Julien Brugnaut, Darragh Hurley and Dave Ryan along with Buckley and Marcus Horan and hookers Jerry Flannery and Denis Fogarty are included in the squad. One of Brugnaut, Hurley and Ryan will drop out when Tony McGahan shows his hand at lunch time today.

Alan Quinlan, who was ruled out against Leinster last week, confirmed his availability at yesterday’s final squad session at Musgrave Park and Denis Leamy, who sustained a neck injury late in that game, also reported fully fit. Accordingly, McGahan has a full-strength from which to choose his side – with the exception of Hayes.

And last night, Donncha O’Callaghan spoke passionately about how much everyone in the squad will miss his presence tomorrow.

“I think the moment that just bangs into everyone’s head about John Hayes is the time in Murrayfield when Rog (Ronan O’Gara) went down and the rest of us jumped over him to get on with the play,” said O’Callaghan. “Hayes being the fella he is, went down to see if he was alright and put him into a recovery position, he took his gumshield out and cleared out his mouth so that he could get a breath.

“That’s Hayes. That’s him all out. What happened was terrible but John has a heart as big as himself and it’s just hugely disappointing for him, really, and for us because he’s a fella we really respect and we’d go to the wall for, but we know that we’ve to put in a huge performance for the likes of John. I think everyone would like that when he comes back in a few weeks that Munster is in a better place.”

Munster squad (v Northampton): Forwards: M Horan, J Brugnaut, T Buckley, Darragh Hurley, D Ryan, J Flannery, D O’Callaghan, M O’Driscoll, P O’Connell, D Ryan, D Leamy, N Ronan, D Wallace, N Williams, A Quinlan.

Backs: T O’Leary, T Morland, P Stringer, R O’Gara, P Warwick, J de Villiers, L Mafi, D Howlett, I Dowling, Denis Hurley, K Earls.