Munster 'very hopeful' on Jack Crowley fitness as Bath Champions Cup trip looms
Jack Crowley suffered an injury just seven seconds into Munster's defeat to the Stormers. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
Munster are confident Jack Crowley will be fit to face Bath in their Champions Cup pool opener at The Rec on Saturday night, despite the fly-half sitting out training in Limerick on Monday.
The Ireland playmaker was injured after just seven seconds of last Saturday’s URC home loss to the Stormers after flanker Paul de Villiers caught his kicking leg as Crowley cleared the South African team’s kick-off. The Munster number 10 missed his first kick at goal, a fourth minute penalty, but looked to have overcome the lower leg issue, with three first-half conversions, including his own score.
Crowley completed 80 minutes but was kept out of training as Clayton McMillan’s side began preparations on Monday for the visit to the English champions.
“We're just assessing him, that's ongoing,” defence coach Denis Leamy said after training at the University of Limerick. “He got a little bit of a bang early in the game, right at the start, so he's just being assessed at the moment so we'll see how that one plays out.”
The former Ireland back rower did not describe the incident with de Villiers as one of foul play, adding: “He got a bang and these things can happen when players are trying to get a block down. It's one of these things, I don't think there was anything in it really.”
As to his availability to face Johann van Graan’s side in England’s west country this Saturday night, Leamy said: “Very hopeful, we're very hopeful. I think it's a lower leg injury, that’s about it, but we'd be very hopeful.”
There was less positive news for back-rower Jack O’Donoghue, removed after 10 minutes with a head knock from which he did not return following a Head Injury Assessment.
“Jack, I believe, is out. He's failed his HIA. We've been planning without Jack. Other than that, I don't think there's anyone coming in that wasn't available last week.”
Munster were boosted by the arrival on Monday of Samoan Test tighthead Michael Alaatoa, the former Leinster prop who was signed from ASM Clermont Auvergne on a seven-month contract. Leamy said the 34-year-old would come straight into the selection mix for this Saturday as Munster look to rebound from their first defeat under McMillan.
A loss the weekend before a European match where little is expected of Munster against English heavyweights away from home is a familiar narrative for Leamy as he helps prepare the side for a testing challenge against a club which returned to the top of the PREM with a come-from-behind victory at Saracens on Sunday.
“Yeah, well, look, obviously we'd rather not have created that script from the weekend, but look, that's the reality and that's the game we're in.
“So it's a well-written script from previous years. It's a tough one. It's always difficult going to England first time out, and obviously Bath, they're champions of England and they look a really, really good side and that happens to us a lot over the years where we have to go and play the English champions.
“So it's a massive task. They look very strong in all aspects. They have a very, very good pack. They look to have a very good scrum, very good fundamentals around their maul, around their lineout play. And then they've got the quality of players like (Finn) Russell and (Ollie) Lawrence and (Henry) Arundell and (Tom) de Glanville and these players. So they have plenty of quality.
“(But) a lot of the focus will be on us. It'll be on what we can do well, what we can control. Like, for example, some of the discipline the other night in terms of releasing pressure valves and pressure cycles on the Stormers, just those avoidables and those controllables will be key.”
Leamy also said Saturday’s game would offer an examination of Munster’s objectives for their European campaign this season.
“I think first and foremost, going to England and playing Bath in Bath, as a one-off fixture if you've got any sort of competitiveness or any sort of goals in the game and to put a mark in the sand, what a great place to go and do it.
“It's going to be a great challenge but the thing with our boys is we've gone to tough places over the last couple of years. You think La Rochelle, Northampton, a couple of years ago we won in as well. So, we have form and I think our boys are excited about the challenge.”
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