Simon Zebo and Donnacha Ryan set to return for Munster’s battle with Ulster
But fans will have to wait until at least Thursday to learn the identity of the big name back-row forward the province has signed to stand in for Peter O’Mahony ahead of an intensive programme of matches in both the Guinness Pro12 and European Champions Cup.
Munster have supplied the names of their 30-man squad for the latter competition and expect ratification from the organisers of the European event before the end of this week. When pressed at UL yesterday to reveal the name of the “mystery man”, Munster head coach Anthony Foley urged patience.
“It has happened but you won’t know until Thursday,” he said with a knowing smile. And when it was suggested that the player in question might be non-Irish, Foley reiterated: “Ye will find out in due course.”
The only certainty is that the individual in question will not be in the side to face Ulster. On a more positive note, however, Foley hinted that Simon Zebo and Donnacha Ryan will be in the matchday 23 with Conor Murray and Keith Earls set to be rested for another week or two.
“Fellas coming back from a big tournament, off a big disappointment, they are physically in great shape but we need to see mentally where they are,” warned Foley.
“We are going into week three now, of a 16-week block. You don’t want to put them in early and suffer the consequences later.”
Munster enter Friday’s game on the back of their first defeat of the season against the Scarlets on Friday last.
Ironically, there is a strong belief in the camp that this was their best display of the season, and that to lose out to two late penalties was more than a little unfortunate. On the other hand, the failure to grind out the kind of result that has become a hallmark of the side clearly grates with Foley.
“We made a decision to pass the ball across the back field and it wasn’t the right option,” he stated. “We should have stayed putting pressure on them. We invited the referee into the game to make decisions that didn’t go our way. We needed to control the back end of the game as we did against Cardiff, Glasgow and Ospreys.
“Unfortunately what would have been our best performance of the year turned into a very disappointing loss. Up to the 75th minute, that is the best we have gone.”
New Zealander Tyler Bleyendaal did not feature against the Scarlets after he suffered a slight quad strain during the warm-up. He could come into the reckoning against Ulster with Foley anticipating “a cracker of a game”.
“They have thrown up a massive variation in their attack,” he conceded. “They have a lot of quality in their back three, Andrew Trimble, Craig Gilroy and Ludik at full-back. Andrew would have been bitterly disappointed at being left out of the World Cup – and also with the review he got on ‘The Restaurant’ (TV) programme the other night!But he is a great player and I have a lot of time for him.
“Another player who has caught everybody’s eye is Stuart McCloskey at 12. He has really put up his hand in terms of his ball carrying but he also has subtleties for such a big man. It will be interesting to see who they start at 10, whether Paddy Jackson or Ian Humphreys.
“It is two sides that have gone toe-to- toe in the last two outings, and will go toe-to-toe again this weekend.”
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