Munster vow not to risk O'Mahony for Exeter amid shoulder issue

Assistant coach Denis Leamy admitted yesterday that the Munster coaching ticket headed by Graham Rowntree faced a lot of hard decisions as they finalise a matchday squad for Exeter Chiefs.

WAITING GAME: Peter O'Mahony during Munster rugby squad training. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Munster are in fingers crossed territory with a string of frontline players ahead of the weekend’s Champions Cup pool trip to Exeter Chiefs but will not risk veteran talisman Peter O’Mahony for the Pool 3 showdown.

Assistant coach Denis Leamy admitted yesterday that the Munster coaching ticket headed by Graham Rowntree faced a lot of hard decisions as they finalise a matchday squad to get their campaign up and running following last Saturday’s disappointing 17-17 opening-round draw at home Bayonne.

With both Rowntree and captain for the night Tadhg Beirne accepting last Saturday night that the stalemate with the tournament newcomers from French Basque country had felt like a defeat and ramped up the pressure on the URC champions just one game into the pool stages, Munster are in need of experienced heads for this Sunday’s visit to Sandy Park.

Leamy would speak of the confidence within the squad stemming from last season’s run of five away games unbeaten that resulted in the URC title and a first trophy in 12 years but the limited involvement of former captain O’Mahony in yesterday’s training session will bring unease in advance of meeting a team returning home from a win at Toulon. 

Not enough, though, to take undue risks with the 34-year-old Irish Test centurion with more than half a seasons still to play and an awful lot of road still to travel.

"Peter trained yesterday and he reported a little bit of soreness this morning,” Leamy said. “He'll just be ongoing, that's day by day.

"Ultimately, Peter is a straight talker and he knows his body. Along with the medics, they'll decide. If he's available for selection, then we sit down and make the hard calls because, respectfully, especially in that back row, there's a lot of decisions to be made."

“We have a lot of players that are playing well in those shirts, for example Tom Ahern has been very good over the last couple of weeks.

“But again, those decisions only have to be made if Peter feels that he is fit enough and the medics feel that he is fit enough to do the job.

“We won’t risk him. We can’t risk him at this stage of his career and the season as well. It’s going to be a long season, so again, we’ll just wait and see how that pans out over the next 48 hours.” 

Of the other dozen or so senior players unavailable last Saturday, Munster are more hopeful on potential returns for new tighthead prop signing Oli Jager and backs Shane Daly and former Exeter Chiefs centre Sean O’Brien.

Centre Antoine Frisch, hooker Diarmuid Barron and back-three duo Simon Zebo and Pat Campbell also missed last Saturday’s Thomond Park draw and their progress in training this week will continue to be monitored ahead of Friday’s team announcement. 

Fly-half Joey Carbery, and South Africa’s World Cup-winning lock duo Jean Kleyn and RG Snyman will remain sidelined until next year.

"I think today, Shane Daly and Sean O'Brien seemed to be trucking a little bit better but we'll just see how they wake up and assess them again on Friday,” Leamy said. “Hopefully, they train on Friday and they will be available.

"There's a few balls in the air but we just have to watch that. We'd be hopeful they will be available but we have to wait and see. They're training and hopefully, fingers crossed."

As a veteran of 10 European seasons and a two-time Heineken Cup winner with his native province in 2006 and 2008, Leamy is also no stranger to Munster’s current predicament of being in need of a quick rebound from the previous week’s setback and he insisted the squad he now coaches had the experience and tools to get the job done in Exeter on Sunday.

“I think it’s ultimately about belief in what we’ve done. We’ve done an awful lot of good things over the last while and there are times when you don’t play as well as you want to but the key thing is that we believe in how we’ve gone to places like this and put in performances.

“You draw on that and ultimately we’re trying to get our scrum, our set-piece, our breakdown, our defensive sets, how we manage our kicking game and putting all that cohesion together. That’s the key thing.

“There’ll be huge belief in the building we can do that. We’ve got some very, very experienced players now, mixed with a bit of youth who bring that exciting edge to them. 

"So you just believe in what we’ve done. It’s never easy going to England, it’s a tough ask but it’s something we’re looking forward to and we’ll just bring our best game hopefully.”