Murray primed to step in at No 10 for Munster

JJ Hanrahan is likely to be restricted to water carrier duties in Marseille this weekend. And, if that is the case, should anything happen to Ian Keatley the battle for a place in the Heineken Cup final could hinge on how good Conor Murray can act as back-up goal-kicker.

Murray did a decent job in training at Musgrave Park yesterday when he knocked over penalty attempts, admittedly under no pressure, from challenging angles.

Neither, apparently, would the scrum-half be fazed at having to fill in for Keatley as a No 10.

All of that might not be necessary of course; the injured out-half back-up Hanrahan still has an outside chance of making it to the Munster bench for Sunday’s European semi-final, and Munster coach Rob Penney is looking forward to the challenge.

"I think we’re in really good shape," he said.

"We came out for the game in Galway the other day in really good shape, not too banged up and no major injury concerns.

"A couple of guys, as I think I mentioned at the time, we wanted to give some freshening up time. We’ve done that. BJ [Botha] had a bit of an illness last week and that’s why he didn’t get any game time. Now he’s back to 100%."

So the guys of note are probably JJ [Hanrahan]. He’s not out of the reckoning. He’s had I suppose a miraculous turnaround. He is doing some running. It’ll be a big ask to get him anywhere near Sunday but it possibly could happen.

"Donnacha Ryan, he trained partially today. It’s very much dependent upon how he comes through this evening and tomorrow, as to whether he’ll be a possible option, but he’s not out of the reckoning either. Casey [Laulala] is fine.

"James Cronin has come back from his ankle strain, did his first little bit of scrummaging on Friday and did his first full set today, and he looks like he’s ready to go."

Meanwhile, Penney is happy with the appointment of Wayne Barnes for this big game, even if the Englishman might be under pressure following criticism from Toulon after their quarter-final victory over Leinster.

"Whenever you get to big games you want your big referees there and you want your big referees up for the occasion because it is a massive event and the outcomes on these games have massive consequences. No problem, Wayne Barnes.

"They [Toulon] are throwing some red herrings out, just trying to create pressure on a referee."