Penney confident Murray will be fit to face Gloucester

Munster head coach Rob Penney is cautiously optimistic Conor Murray will be fit for Munster’s Heineken Cup clash with Gloucester at Kingsholm – and the Lions and Ireland scrum-half’s housemate Mike Sherry is also confident the Limerick native answer the province’s call at 6pm on Saturday.

“There always was a chance for Conor”, said Penney. “Hopefully the work the medical team has been doing will come to fruition.”

Sherry has been watching Murray’s rehab from the closest possible quarters and says all “the running and jumping and hopping over chairs and exercises are sure to have the desired result.

“Seriously, though, he has been very disciplined and we’ll only have to wait and see if all the work has the desired outcome.”

A player of Murray’s reputation and experience was always going to be a vital factor in the white hot atmosphere at Kingsholm but with a serious doubt over Cathal Sheridan, his availability became even more important.

And that also applies very much in the second-row and at hooker. Donncha O’Callaghan’s early retirement in Belfast, coming on top of the injury that will leave Donnacha Ryan sidelined for another fortnight, could pave the way for any one of Dave Foley, Billy Holland or Ian Nagle coming into the engine room alongside Paul O’Connell.

All three have proved themselves on a regular basis in the Rabo Direct League but are seriously short of experience at Heineken Cup level.

And with Damien Varley pulling up with an injury, Penney may well have to go with two hookers, Duncan Casey and Niall Scannell, who between them have played less than 20 minutes in Europe.

It will be today before there is a clear picture as to the prospects of Sheridan, Varley and O’Callaghan being fit.

Meanwhile, Sherry is reconciled to being out for up to six months although he notes with a smile that “Felix Jones set a record of 5 months 2 weeks after his cruciate operation and I’m going to try and beat that mark.”

He continued: “Munster are in a great place in the Rabo League and Heineken Cup. It’s a very happy squad scoring plenty of tries and points. We don’t like to lose any matches, especially interpros up in Belfast, but I suspect that result will only stir the lads up a bit more. There’s been a tradition that we don’t play that well on the week before the Heineken Cup but in fact I don’t think we played poorly against Ulster. ”

Penney shares Sherry’s view of the Ravenhill result. “To work our way back to four points down, having not kicked many goals, and missed the chance of another try was disappointing, but I’m also really pleased with how the guys responded. This team have a great deal of fortitude. We probably left 12 or 15 points out there through our kicking but it was a great effort.”

Sherry watched Gloucester’s below-par performance in losing 29-8 at home to Saracens in the Aviva Premiership on Saturday and believes too much should not be read into what he agrees was a poor display.

“Kingsholm is a great stadium, Gloucester have amazing support and a magnificent tradition and because they absolutely have to win this game, they will be very dangerous opposition.”