Penney urges Varley to press for Ireland inclusion

Munster head coach Rob Penney has urged hooker Damien Varley to keep pushing for a place in Joe Schmidt’s Ireland set-up following his man of the match performance against Ospreys at the weekend.

Varley, 30, won his second and most recent cap against Argentina during the autumn international window three years ago and featured in a number of Declan Kidney’s squads since, joining the 2011 World Cup squad as injury cover and featuring for the Wolfhounds last January.

The former Wasps hooker has been overlooked by new head coach Schmidt for both his training camp in September and the squad for this month’s Guinness Series, with provincial team-mate Mike Sherry named instead, alongside Rory Best and Sean Cronin.