O’Mahony battles against the clock
It was very much a mixed bag for Munster yesterday as coach Rob Penney updated the injury situation in advance of the big game, but he offered hope O’Mahony would be cleared to play.
The bad news though is Stephen Archer has been ruled out for several weeks with a bulging disc in his neck, and Donnacha Ryan also is likely to be out for a few more weeks with a foot injury.
The upside is Damien Varley looks good to go, and John Ryan should be included in the matchday squad too after missing the Leinster game.
Penney reported: “Donnacha Ryan is probably very unlikely, but we’ll make a decision on that a little bit later in the week. He’s on a rehab action plan and it’ll either be right or it won’t. We’ll know that quite quickly over the next couple of days.
“Varley is fine, he’s on a managed workload as well. Given the history of his foot injury he suffered in Ulster a few months ago, we’re just managing him, so he should be fine to go.”
The coach was also positive on the subject of Keith Earls, who made a comeback from a shoulder injury two weeks ago against Treviso, and came through that and the Leinster game last week unscathed.
“Keith is fine, again on a managed workload. He played 80 minutes at the weekend and had high miles, high contacts; he had a great game. So again, we’re just managing his workload this week,” said the coach.
But at yesterday’s pre-Heineken Cup quarter-final press conference, much of the attention centred on O’Mahony, who was troubled by a hamstring/nerve injury during Ireland’s Six Nations campaign and who was a late withdrawal from his province’s Pro12 clash with Leinster last weekend.
Penney said they will wait to make a decision on the blindside flanker’s involvement until tomorrow, but he could even be given until the morning of the game before a decision is made.
“Peter is on a managed workload at the start of the week, obviously after the late withdrawal from the match on Saturday. Hopefully, he’ll have no repercussions tomorrow. He trained — and trained well — today but not fully. Hopefully, by the end of the week, he’s got no repercussions from today and he’ll be alright. I think it’ll make itself very clear by Thursday.”
O’Mahony himself was also pretty positive: “Yeah, it feels good. I’ve had the medical staff monitoring me over the last 48 hours, they’ve been very good and they’re going to put me in the best position to put me into contention for selection next weekend.”
O’Mahony was disappointed at having to miss Munster’s clash with Leinster, but reckoned it was the wisest decision to make.
“To be fair, I would have done anything to play against the Leinster lads in a full stadium at the Aviva, you don’t get much better than that. I needed game time, I would have done anything to play, but I couldn’t loosen it out. Getting time to rest it is the problem, what with all these big games, but it’s much better now, it just needed an extra week.”
However, he wasn’t prepared to speculate on percentages, whether it’s a 50/50 call or even higher at 80/90. “Look, you would have to ask the medical staff about that, it won’t be for lack of effort by them or me to get back in contention, let’s put it that way.”
O’Mahony is desperate to face the French side. “Without a shadow of a doubt, (it’s) the biggest game of the year so far, against probably the best team we’re probably going to play so far this year, so certainly it wouldn’t be the one to miss. Still, look, it’s feeling good and if I train fully on Thursday, I should be good to go.”
O’Mahony knows that only Munster’s very best performance will do against a team of Toulouse’s quality.
“It has to be the best collective performance we have played all year. If Toulouse coming to Thomond Park doesn’t get you up for a game you shouldn’t be hanging around with us.”
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