Flannery fillip for Munster

IF Munster needed a morale booster in the build-up to Sunday’s crucial Heineken Cup clash with Perpignan at Stade Aime Giral, it came last night with the news that Jerry Flannery’s Achilles injury isn’t as bad as first feared.

Indeed, coach Tony McGahan went so far as to hope he might be fit to line out against Treviso on the weekend of January 15-17.

The Munster and Ireland hooker had an exploratory operation on the tendon in London yesterday followed by a report that he should be able to play again within four or five weeks.