O’Mahony ready to rumble

Munster captain Peter O’Mahony yesterday insisted he feels great and ready to lead the province into Europe against Edinburgh this weekend.

O’Mahony, 24, shipped a bang to his head during Saturday’s RaboDirect Pro12 derby with Leinster at Thomond Park and was withdrawn from the fray at half-time as a precautionary measure on advice from Munster team doctor Tadhg O’Sullivan. The Ireland back rower still has to satisfy the IRB’s graduated return to play protocol, a series of cognitive and physical tests, before he is able to take the field in the Heineken Cup Pool 6 opener at Murrayfield on Saturday. Sitting out training yesterday was also part of the protocol but O’Mahony later fronted up at a Munster press conference in Limerick and spoke of his wellbeing as head coach Rob Penney underlined coaches’ duty of care to their players.

“I obviously took a knock,” O’Mahony said. “But you could see that on the (match) video that I answered all of my (cognitive) questions perfectly to the doc and I was still communicating with (referee) Romain (Poite), questioning his penalty (decision) and that was a good indication I was feeling all right.