Varley pressing for bench spot

DAMIEN VARLEY may have been sitting at his kitchen table in Limerick less than a fortnight ago but having been called up to the Ireland World Cup squad as an emergency replacement he is not content to just be along for the journey.

Flown out to New Zealand on the eve of the Australia game as his fellow Munster hooker Jerry Flannery succumbed to another calf injury, Varley has his sights set on a place in Sunday’s matchday squad at the Otago Stadium for the must-win Pool C clash against Italy.

“You get to a certain stage and you want to keep progressing,” Varley said in Dunedin yesterday. “I was disappointed initially when I didn’t make the squad; I was delighted when I got called up and now that you’re here you know you have to forget all that stuff. You’re in the environment and you have to push on. Certainly I would like to be pushing for a spot in the 22.”