Munster hopeful on Carbery and O'Mahony for second leg

Munster played Exeter on Saturday without seven internationals

Heineken Champions Cup Round of 16 First Leg, Sandy Park, Exeter, England 9/4/2022

Munster hope to have at least two of their internationals back in training today as preparations begin for a deciding Thomond Park return leg against Exeter Chiefs that Johann van Graan hopes will bring home support out in numbers.

The Chiefs will defend a 13-8 lead for this Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup Round of 16 second leg in Limerick after Munster kept them in check with a solid rearguard effort at Sandy Park in the first leg last Saturday.

The Irish province managed it without seven internationals following injuries to Tadhg Beirne, Joey Carbery, Andrew Conway, Gavin Coombes, Dave Kilcoyne, and captain Peter O’Mahony while Munster then lost Simon Zebo as well replacement hooker Diarmuid Barron to acute gastroenteritis in the 24 hours before kick-off.

Conway’s knee injury does not appear to be short-term while Coombes’s ankle problem sustained against Leinster on April 2 has required surgery that will keep the No.8 sidelined until May. Yet head coach van Graan was optimistic that some of his frontline starters will be back in harness. Fly-half Carbery succumbed to what was described as a low-grade leg/knee injury while O’Mahony had a hamstring complaint and both are looking good for returns.

“We hope so,” van Graan said. “We will have Joey Carbery in training on Monday. Hopefully we will get some good news on Peter; he trained on Thursday but he wasn’t 100 per cent, wasn’t good to go.

“We had quite a lot of sickness in the team during the week, some guys did not train at the back end of the week. Zeebs, we booked him a flight for this (Saturday) morning to come across but he didn’t make it. Diarmuid Barron went down. Some individuals gritted their teeth and played. Hopefully we have a few more guys back but whoever plays next week, whoever is ready to go will represent this club.” 

The Munster head coach was cheered by the level of support his team received in south-west England on Saturday and following a disappointing turn-out at Thomond Park for their United Rugby Championship derby with Leinster, the South African said he was hoping for a stronger turnout for this Saturday afternoon’s do-or-die European decider.

“That’d be brilliant. Whatever numbers we get we appreciate. The scenes we saw here today when we got off the bus, people singing….even when we came out after half time we knew we needed to come punching and we did.

“From a Munster fan base point of view they are always there and we are really looking forward to going into a European knockout game at Thomond Park. A scene is set for a massive battle next week against a team and a club that we respect a lot in Exeter.”