Munster places up for grabs, says Anthony Foley

Munster head coach Anthony Foley insisted every last man standing in his squad would come into consideration for Saturday’s pivotal Guinness Pro12 final league game at home to Newport Gwent Dragons.

The province, which stands level on points with leaders Ospreys and second-placed Glasgow Warriors with one round of the regular season remaining, needs victory at Musgrave Park this weekend at the minimum to be in with a chance of an all-important home semi-final and with that in mind the Munster boss said resting players with a view to the knockout stages ahead was not an option.

Foley looks set to be without openside flanker Tommy O’Donnell who sustained a hamstring injury against Ulster at the weekend.

There are also concerns over wing Simon Zebo (back) and loosehead prop Dave Kilcoyne (head) although fears over the availability of full-back Felix Jones (hand) appear to have eased.

And if a player is fit it appears he is in the mix for selection as Munster look to take full advantage of any slip from either Ospreys, who visit Connacht, or Glasgow, who host fourth-placed Ulster.

“We’re not resting anyone this weekend,” Foley said following training at a sunny Musgrave Park yesterday. “It will be who’s good to go is good to go.

“I think it’s important that we approach the game like that and we go from a mindset that we have massive respect for Dragons. They’re well coached, they had us at one stage at Rodney Parade, 9-7 up at half-time and we understand the physical battle that’s going to be out there on Saturday and we need to prepare for that. We need to get that momentum and keep building on positive performances and going forward.”

O’Donnell, named in the Guinness Pro12 Dream Team for the season on Monday alongside back-row team-mate CJ Stander, strained his hamstring in just the third minute of last Saturday’s 23-23 draw with Ulster at Ravenhill and Foley said: “I wouldn’t say we’d be seeing Tommy this weekend.

“Tommy’s getting a scan and we’d have a small bit of concern around that so we need to get a specialist to have a look at it and that’s happening either today or tomorrow.”

Foley ruled nobody out from this Saturday’s game, when the league’s fixtures all kick off at 3pm, saying Zebo, substituted after 26 minutes in Belfast had been withdrawn as a precaution.

“Simon went into the game with back spasms during (last) week. He trained Thursday with us and got through that and he got through the warm up. He took a big knock early on in the game and his back started to go again so we thought it best to take him off early before there was any more damage.

“Dave Kilcoyne is doing his return to play protocols around his head injury and Felix Jones was in a sling but trained fully today. He’s fine.”

Foley’s no-rest policy also includes New Zealander Tyler Bleyendaal, who came through his first game in red two weeks ago in the A game with Ulster in Naas having overcome a serious neck injury before leaving Canterbury last summer.

Speaking as the out-half was behind him, practising his goal-kicking, Foley said: “He’s getting there. He’s working hard, he’s a good professional and we’ve all got good time for him.

“He’ll be in the mix for this weekend and we need to make sure it’s the right thing for him to do.”

Over in Wales, meanwhile, the Dragons are making light of their miserable record in Munster having lost 10 times in a row since they won in Limerick in their first visit as a region in March 2004.

A shock victory over Leinster at the RDS earlier this season ended a seven-year wait for a win on Irish soil and loosehead prop Boris Stankovich told the South Wales Argus: “We are going there with no excuses because we have beaten Leinster away and the boys are looking forward to having a good crack in our last game of the season.

“But Munster are a proud side and will be looking to earn a home semi-final so we are under no illusions of how tough it will be.”

If Munster do claim a home semi it looks set to take place at Thomond Park a week on Saturday, May 23, at 2.30pm after league officials yesterday released play-off details. The first semi-final has been set for the previous night at 7.45pm.

The Pro12 said that if Glasgow or Ulster were at home, they would play on the Friday, but if both those teams finished in the top two, the Scots would be the team to keep the first semi-final spot with Ulster moving to the Saturday.

Likewise Ospreys would be at home on Saturday unless Munster were also at home, in which case they would play their home semi-final on the Friday.