Penney happy with high-flying squad

Munster head coach Rob Penney wants his players to hit the ground running this week as they prepare for the return of Heineken Cup action to Thomond Park on Sunday.

The Reds readied themselves for their Pool 6 home clash with Perpignan with a league victory in Wales for the second time in six days on Friday having beaten the Newport Gwent Dragons 18-14 at Rodney Parade. That maintained a lead at the top of the RaboDirect Pro12 table they had opened up at Cardiff Blues the previous Saturday. While the availability of forwards Mike Sherry (knee) and James Coughlan (eye) to face the French Top14 side will be assessed today, Penney sees plenty to look forward to with his ranks boosted by some key returnees.

Asked after the victory in Newport if the focus had already turned to the Perpignan game, Penney said: “Absolutely, there will be some learnings but we will look forward. We will welcome back the likes of Peter O’Mahony and Conor Murray and hopefully (the injured) Donnacha Ryan is not too far away and we can get some really good progress early on this week so we are really clear by the end of the week and greet Perpignan with a great Thomond Park raucous welcome Sunday.”