Coughlan out for rest of season

James Coughlan will miss the rest of Munster’s regular season due to the hand injury he received against Ulster.

The number eight will undergo surgery tomorrow after fracturing a bone in his left hand but might return for the league final on May 26/27, if Munster make it that far.

“He will miss Munster’s remaining games in the RaboDirect Pro12, initial reports are that he could be sidelined for six to eight weeks,” a Munster statement read yesterday.

Keith Earls also underwent a scan yesterday to determine the full extent of the leg injury he sustained during Sunday’s defeat.

Meanwhile, the man heavily tipped to take over the Munster coaching job, Anthony Foley, won’t tolerate any hard done-by feelings as the province sets out to salvage their season.

With his beloved team out of the Heineken Cup and having trouble securing a place in the semi-final stages of the RaboDirect Pro12, of which they are champions, Foley is under no illusions the outcome of three upcoming fixtures against Glasgow in Cork on Saturday night, away to Llanelli and then at home in Limerick to their European conquerors Ulster, will define their season.

Foley has already described the season as disappointing on the basis Munster’s European dream is over, explaining: “Everyone is despondent, we’re obviously out of a tournament we would love to be still in. At the weekend, it was hard to take, because we worked so hard to get a home quarter-final only then not to avail of the advantages it should give you.”

You get the feeling he made his feelings known in the dressing room after that defeat by Ulster just by his reaction. He said: “Of those 19 points [scored by Ulster in the first half], 16 of them came from their own half. From our point of view, when you look back on the stats of the game; possession, territory and what we had, the things that hurt us most are how ineffective we were with our use of the ball, the amount of penalties we conceded; some of them were in our control, some out of our control [through refereeing judgement], but to concede points from the opposition’s half was most hard to take.”

The positives for Foley are that Munster’s run-in includes fixtures against all three teams directly below them, fourth-placed Glasgow, Llanelli (sixth) and Ulster (fifth) in that order.

Meanwhile, the British and Irish Cup final between Munster and Cross Keys will kick off at 5.30pm on Friday, Apr 27 in Musgrave Park, Cork and will be televised by Sky Sports.