Penney hails medics as key players set to return

In terms of resolving outstanding issues, head coach Rob Penney is receiving plenty of encouragement from his medics ahead of Munster’s Heineken Cup clash in Gloucester, even if he appears more than happy to put discussion of his own future on hold.

Five days on from descriptions of Munster’s dressing room at Ravenhill resembling a military field hospital, Penney looks like having first-choice hooker Damien Varley back in harness for the must-win Pool 6 trip to Kingsholm on Saturday. Varley limped out of the Ulster game just before half-time with a foot injury to join lock Donncha O’Callaghan and scrum-half Cathal Sheridan on the casualty list with the Munster boss initially ruling each of them out of this weekend’s European showdown.

With game-day looming, only Sheridan is still sidelined, his expected four-to-six-week absence with medial knee ligament damage offset by the expected return of first-choice number nine Conor Murray.

And with Simon Zebo also contending for a place on the wing after 12 weeks out with a cracked bone in his foot, Penney was yesterday counting his blessings.

“I’ve just got to give so much credit to our medical team and S&C (strength and conditioning) team, who have worked diligently with both Conor and Zeebs,” Penney said. “It’s unbelievably coincidental we lose Cathal for four to six weeks and Conor’s on the cusp of returning. He trained in a managed way today, as did Zeebs, and we’ll make a decision later in the week on their availability, depending on how they get through post-training recovery.”

Varley’s recovery is just as important given the lack of experience at hooker following Mike Sherry’s season-ending knee injury. Duncan Casey would be primed to start in Varley’s absence after impressing off the bench in Belfast, with Niall Scannell the other ERC-registered hooker and Penney feeling no inclination to deploy his medical joker this week. “We’re rapt with the way the two young guys are going, Duncan Casey and Niall Scannell. They’ve both had opportunities at Rabo. Duncan has obviously had a little bit of a run-out at Heineken Cup earlier and we’re going to back the boys.

“Hopefully the half-back situation will take care of itself, with Conor’s situation, and the hooker position is covered with those two lads and Damien Varley.

“Although (Varley) came off looking like he was going to be a catastrophic injury, we got a great report from the specialist yesterday and he’s not out of the equation for this week.”

Munster’s fitness bulletin also suggests Donnacha Ryan could be back for the final game at home to Edinburgh in 11 days. The Ireland lock resumed running yesterday after suffering a knee injury in training last month.

Despite Munster’s five-point lead over Gloucester at the top of the pool, there is still plenty to focus the minds and Penney said he was happy to let his own contract talks about extending his stay in the province beyond this summer, when his initial two-year deal expires, stay unresolved until the Heineken Cup pool stages were concluded.

“I’m keen to stay as I said before, the organisation has been top class to deal with. We’re focused on the footie at the moment (Munster chief executive) Garrett (Fitzgerald)’s really appreciative of the fact that he doesn’t want to have a distraction. I’m not interested in a distraction at the moment because I’ve got something to focus on and we’ll just leave it at that for now but it is progressing well and all parties are pretty comfortable.”

That also included the status of Penney’s assistants, forwards coach Anthony Foley, backs coach Simon Mannix and skills coach Ian Costello, whose deals are all up in June.

“There’s none of them up for debate,” Penney said. “I’m very hopeful that if we can get to the point with the other three guys and we’re all working together again.”

If there was any frustration thatseveral key players’ futures remain up in the air also, including Paul O’Connell’s, Penney was not showing it, laughing off suggestions a resolution needed to be found by the third week in January.

“Jeez, it would be a ballsy call to do that to Paul O’Connell wouldn’t it?” Penney said. “To be fair to the IRFU they are trying to get them nailed off a lot earlier so it is not their fault. They have budgetary restraints to consider and the athlete has to be willing to engage and it is sometimes not the fault of the negotiating team of the IRFU. There are a whole lot of extenuating circumstances.”