Toulon braced for O’Connell’s return
The debate on whether the Munster captain will be handed a starting role in the Pool Three showdown has reached the south of France as the two-time European champions’ head coach Tony McGahan ponders one of his most important ever selection decisions.
Available for the first time since serving a four-week suspension after being sent off in December’s home tie against Ospreys, O’Connell’s readiness for such an important fixture is an issue, given his lack of game time following a lengthy injury lay-off.
Toulon second row Schofield, though, is convinced O’Connell will start and is vital to Munster’s chances.
“He’s a cracking player and if Paul O’Connell is going forward the Munster team play well,” Schofield said following Toulon’s 15-12 defeat at Racing Metro last Sunday
“I’ve got massive respect for Donncha O’Callaghan as well. I’ve watched him right throughout his career and he’s a cracking player as well but I’m sure Paul O’Connell will be champing at the bit to get a start and he’ll get it I should imagine.”
Schofield perhaps realised his respect for O’Connell was a little too reverent as he appeared to stop himself in his tracks.
“We know what he does for the Munster team and they take massive.... yeah, as I said, if he’s going forward, Munster play well, simple as that.”
The former Sale lock, 32 next week, scored a try for his former club against Munster in a 2008-09 European clash and he said he was paying no heed to reports of Munster’s recent dip from the expected high standards and pointed to Toulon’s 45-18 thumping at Thomond Park as the proper yardstick by which to measure this weekend’s visitors.
“We’d already spoken about it (before the Racing game). “We respect them, we know what track record they’ve got, we know they’ve got real quality and they really know how to play in the Heineken Cup. If anyone knows how to pull out results it’s those guys. So we know it’s going to be a good game.
“We got played off the park in all honesty at their place so it’s going to be a tight game.
“From the league to the Heineken Cup they always seem to switch on and bring something else to the party and I’m sure that’s going to be the case on Sunday.
“We’ll watch the videos but we know there’ll be an underlying intensity there that they’re going to bring to us.”
Schofield was a substitute at Thomond Park and again in Paris at the weekend as Toulon went down narrowly to Top 14 rivals racing Metro in a hard-fought battle of the boot.
He is expected to start against Munster on Sunday and as the ripped jersey and long red mark across his throat suggested in the aftermath of the French domestic encounter, the Englishman is no stranger to physicality.
Munster’s well reported problems at scrum time have also been noted by Toulon, although Schofield was measured in his appraisal of the upcoming battle.
“We’re constantly working on our scrum. It’s massive over here, that’s one massive difference about playing in France, the scrum’s massively important and it’s something that we take pride in. So we’ll just see how that goes.
“We’ve got two big packs on Sunday and it will be interesting to see how the front row guys go and everywhere else around the scrum.
“They’ve got two big locks and a big back row and so have we, so we’ll just see how the front row fare, really.”
Not at issue to the Toulon lock is the reception the home side will receive from a raucous crowd at a sold out Stade Mayol.
“It’s good for us. Playing in France it’s something else and we’ve got a great atmosphere there. The whole town’s geared around the game and we get a great crowd and great support. The guys will get behind us on Sunday.
“Thomond’s very special and our guys were impressed when we went over there. We’ve got a good following over here but I think it was good for the guys to experience Thomond Park but I’m sure you’ll enjoy our place on Sunday.”
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