Anthony Foley hopeful Donnacha Ryan ready for Munster return against Ospreys

Munster’s Donnacha Ryan is set to make his first appearance of the season against Ospreys in Saturday’s Guinness Pro12 game at the Liberty Stadium. 

The 31-year-old Ryan played a mere 12 matches for the province last season due to knee and toe injuries which some feared threatened his career.

However coach Anthony Foley had some positive news to report yesterday in terms of the Nenagh man’s recovery.

“We will see what way Donnacha is by the end of the this week. He trained fully today so it is always a good sign. It is about managing him, to see what way he wakes up tomorrow, is there any more pain in it, can we push it on a bit further.

"It’s all about making sure we don’t do anything to undo all the good work that has been done.”

Ryan earned the last of his 28 Irish caps against Italy in March 2013 in Declan Kidney’s last match in charge. Since then he has been dogged by a damaged sesamoid bone underneath the big toe in his right foot, and was unable to scrummage.

Now that is all behind Ryan, he can assist Munster in the Pro12 and hopefully battle for a place in the Irish World Cup squad.

Foley also reported that Munster hope to have Dave O’Callaghan available after the dead leg that ruled him out against Glasgow last week, and heaped praise on Jack O’Donoghue, a try scorer in each of his last three Munster games.

“He is a striker,” said the coach. “He knows where to be, he runs good lines — he is an intelligent player. It is not by chance that he gets there and gets those tries. He does a lot of good work around the pitch both in attack and defence and he tags on a lot of tries, which is great as well.”

Foley isn’t carried away by Munster’s presence at the top of the Pro12 and expects a serious examination from the Ospreys on Saturday.

“They have a very strong pack, they are very abrasive and have a lot of very experienced players back from Wales. Duncan Jones is still there — these guys know how to get around a game. So it will be tight up front, their half-backs Biggar and Webb were on fire when they played us in Thomond Park but fortunately they’ll be elsewhere this time.”