O’Connell set for six-week layoff

PAUL O’CONNELL will miss Munster’s trip to Brive for Saturday’s Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final, but the outlook on his ankle injury may not be as bad as first feared.

The inspirational skipper is now looking at “weeks, not months” on the sideline, according to well-placed sources, with one estimate putting his recovery period in the region of four to six weeks. However that may still signal the end of his season with Munster and rule him out of the province’s twin assault on Magners League and Amlin Challenge Cup.

There were initial fears that O’Connell had broken an ankle or worse, ruptured his achilles tendon, but an initial x-ray revealed no break, only severe swelling in the area. That suggests ankle ligament damage that will certainly rule him out of this weekend’s action and probably an Amlin semi-final, were Munster to progress.

O’Connell is due to travel to Dublin today for further tests.

The big second row crashed to the ground in the second half of Saturday’s 24-23 Magners League win over Leinster, clutching his leg. It’s a slim consolation, but Munster’s victory virtually guarantees them a lucrative home draw for the semi-finals of the Magners League next month.

With three games left, they’re 12 points ahead of Ulster, 14 better than Ospreys and 15 ahead of Leinster. It would take a capitulation by the leaders and an amazing finish by any of the others to make any major difference to the state of play.

Should they finish first and win that home semi-final, the final will be at Thomond Park. A couple of extra games at the 26,000 capacity venue could be worth more than €1.5m to Munster and up to €10m to the local economy.

Although the loss of O’Connell would be a huge blow, the performance of Mick O’Driscoll was a source of considerable encouragement, and his knowledge of French rugby from his time with Perpignan would also be of benefit.

Should Munster beat Brive, they will be favoured with a home draw against Harlequins or Wasps, worth about €150,000, and they would be rewarded with a similar stake by making it to the final in Cardiff, giving them as much as €2m to play for over the next few weeks.