Penney: Varley the obvious choice to wear armband

By Simon Lewis in Marseille

Munster head coach Rob Penney has praised hooker Damien Varley as his “obvious choice” to captain the province for tomorrow's Heineken Cup semi-final against Toulon in Marseille.

With club captain Peter O'Mahony out for the rest of the season following shoulder surgery, there were several leadership candidates Penney could have called on to take over but the Munster boss opted for Varley to lead his team of leaders into the biggest challenge of the Kiwi coach's two-year tenure.

“Over the past period of time we tried to develop a number of leaders within the group. Varls is a very mature, a very measured thinker,” Penney said today as Munster arrived at Stade Vélodrome for their captain's run.

“He has a really strong influence within the group at a number of levels. Within the group, obviously we have people like Paul O’Connell that will be supporting Varls, James Coughlan, in particular.

"Conor Murray and Ian Keatley are developing into leaders in their own right which is crucial to have those sorts of people on the field and Felix Jones, out the back, would be someone else who is a support leader.

“Varls will have the armband on tomorrow, but it is certainly not an armband he wears in isolation. He is going to get a lot of support. He has been a terrific leader when given the opportunity through the campaign to date. It was an obvious choice for us.”

Varley, 30, spoke of feeling humbled by the prospect of leading his province into “the biggest game of my career”.

“It is the first semi-final I have started in my years with Munster. I am extremely excited by that,” the front rower said.

“To captain Munster at any stage is a huge honour. To captain Munster at this stage of the competition is a huge honour, probably very humbling considering the group that is in it. It is an exciting day for me and my family, but, captain or not, it doesn’t take away from the task at hand. It is still a semi-final and that is the way it will be treated.

Penney called the prospect of facing Toulon “a massive challenge but not an insurmountable one” as he reported his squad to be in “good nick” 24 hours out from the semi-final.

“That's the beauty about it. If we play at our best we're capable of challenging. We will have to be at our best and the guys know that and will try to do that. They're up against a fantastic team and we'll see what happens.”

Penney was getting his first look at Stade Velodrome for a game which is expected to draw a crowd of 40,000 despite its main stand still being under construction ahead of France's hosting of football's 2016 European Championships.

“To stand out in the stadium, you just feel like getting the boots on and getting underway,” he said. “It is going to be a fantastic stadium when it is completed. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like in 12 or 18 months when it is full.

“Tomorrow is going to be a special occasion. One side of it is obviously a bit bleak, but it won’t matter the way the roof will reverberate the noise. I think it will be a very special place to be in. The ground looks a picture. The stadium itself is brilliant.”