Dave O’Callaghan turns full circle after ‘long slog’

Dave O’Callaghan will turn full circle in Italy tomorrow, bringing to a close an 11-month slog back to full fitness that began with a serious knee injury against this weekend’s opponents.

Two days short of his 25th birthday, O’Callaghan will come face to face with Guinness Pro12 strugglers Zebre for the first time since badly injuring the patellar tendon in his right knee early on in a league encounter in Cork.

The injury would require surgery three days later and it would be a further nine months before he returned to Munster colours, with a late appearance off the bench at Newport Gwent Dragons.