Munster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

No speedy return for injured Reds
By Simon Lewis

Thursday, November 17, 2011

WHILE Tony McGahan had the luxury of naming an unchanged Munster squad for this Saturday’s Heineken Cup tie against Castres in Toulouse, the head coach downplayed hopes of a quicker than expected recovery for his long-term injured.

The sight of David Wallace, Keith Earls and Jerry Flannery all taking part in a Munster training session on Tuesday had raised hopes the injured trio may be back in action ahead of schedule but McGahan, who yesterday named a 30-man squad for the pool game against the French side, said there had been no shortening in the recovery timetables of Wallace (knee), Earls (knee), Flannery (back/calf), or indeed Felix Jones (ankle).

"Nothing’s really changed in that regard," McGahan said. "David’s still around the end of March date for when he’s coming back. Felix Jones is middle or end of January and Jerry Flannery is, at this stage, indefinite. We just don’t have a clear picture of where that’s at unfortunately. We’d love to say this is the return date but with the nature of the injury and all the other circumstances in and around it, we don’t have a clear picture of when that could be."

Hooker Flannery, whose World Cup was cut short after just one appearance as a substitute in Ireland’s opening game against the USA on September 11, had visited specialist doctor Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wolfhart in Germany at the end of last month and McGahan said: "That was for treatment and another diagnosis.

"So that’s been done, he’s had treatment over there and there’s a process in place. He needs to hit some markers before he can move forward but they’re unclear at this point in time."

Of Wallace’s increased participation following the knee injury sustained in August against England in a World Cup warm-up game, McGahan said: "It is great to have David, he is certainly not anywhere near a field session but doing some rehab stuff on the sideline, being able to be in meetings and being around the place is terrific.

"Anyone with his experience, both at international and provincial, especially at Heineken Cup time it is terrific to pass on his experience to the back row we have playing at this stage because they haven’t collected a lot of caps between them, so someone like David to participate and engage in talk is certainly important."

Earls’s knee ligament damage suffered in the first minute of Munster’s game against Leinster two weeks ago is a more short-term issue and McGahan said he expected the winger back in harness in the week of the third Heineken Cup round game, which is away to Scarlets in Llanelli on December 11.

"Nothing’s really changed there, he’s on target and hopefully back training at ERC three and we’ll make a decision then. So ERC three is his date to come back and we’ll give it all our consideration when it comes around."

Of this weekend’s squad, to which McGahan added prop John Ryan from last week’s group named for the Northampton Saints game, the head coach said Marcus Horan was back in contention for selection. Ryan had been a late call-up onto the replacements’ bench last weekend following an ankle injury to Marcus Horan, but both players were named yesterday.

"At this stage, everyone’s fit. We had a few knocks and bangs from Saturday night and some guys didn’t participate, some guys did the morning session but trained in the afternoon, some guys had the whole day off.

"So we’ll just have to wait and see, we’ll train again tomorrow [Thursday], late afternoon, and we’ll have a clear decision on what to make of things.

"Marcus is back in, his ankle was sore last week and he had to pull out but he’s back in training mode so he’s available for selection."

Munster squad (v Castres, Heineken Cup): Forwards: M Horan, J Ryan, W du Preez, BJ Botha, J Hayes, S Archer, D Varley, D Fogarty, D Ryan, P O’Connell, Donncha O’Callaghan, M O’Driscoll, B Holland, P O’Mahony, N Ronan, J Coughlan, D Leamy.

Backs: C Murray, T O’Leary, P Stringer, D Williams, R O’Gara, I Keatley, S Deasy, J Murphy, D Howlett, D Barnes, W Chambers, L Mafi, D Hurley.




Read more: http://irishexaminer.ie/sport/rugby/no-speedy-return-for-injured-reds-174182.html#ixzz1dyAVKAOA

Minimum Changes To British & Irish Squad
18 November 2011, 10:31 amBy Pat GeraghtyJust one change up front for Munster's British & Irish Cup side who'll play Neath on Saturday, and one change in backs personnel as Ian Costello's side face a must-win scenario at The Gnoll if they hope to progress to the knock-out stages of this year's competition.
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Mick O'Driscoll was one of their stand-out performers against Cornish Pirates in Clonmel but this weekend will travel with the senior squad to France as will Scott Deasy who kicked their points against the English side.
Dave Foley takes over from O'Driscoll while JJ Hanarahan - who started as inside centre in Clonmel - switches to number 10, in place of Deasy and will be partnered by Duncan Williams who gets the nod ahead of Peter Stringer.

Hanrahan's switch means a reshuffle of midfield with Tom Gleeson moving inside to 12 and Corey Hircock filling the outside centre berth, with Johnny Holland named in the squad for the first time in this competition.

Munster: L O'Dea; R O'Mahoney, C Hircock, T Gleeson, S Zebo; JJ Hanrahan, D Williams; D Kilcoyne, S Henry, S Archer; D Foley, I Nagle; B Holland capt, T O'Donnell, P Butler. Replacements: A Cotter, D Casey, B Hayes, B O'Hara, P Stringer, J Holland (Cork Con), D Moroney (UL Bohs).

PRESS RELEASE

Munster match confirmed for Saturday, January 21st

Issued on behalf of Northampton Saints

ERC, organisers of the Heineken Cup, today have today agreed with Northampton Saints’ request to hold the Round 6 match against Munster on Saturday, January 21st, 2012.

The Saints had strongly petitioned for the match, which is being played at stadiumMK, to be played on a Saturday for the convenience of all the club’s supporters, who have been ordering tickets in their thousands.

ERC have now confirmed that the match will be played on Saturday, January 21st, 2012, with the exact kick off time to be confirmed in the week before Christmas.

The Saints are now able to finalise arrangements to make the match itself the focal point of a great weekend of Heineken Cup rugby, with the Rodber Suite at Franklin’s Gardens open on the Friday night for travelling Munster fans and Saints supporters alike to mingle and watch the action from that evening’s games live on the high definition big screens.

Then on Saturday the Rodber Suite will be open during the afternoon before the supporter coaches depart for stadiumMK, and Munster fans who are staying in Northampton that weekend are most welcome to book their coach tickets and travel to and from the game with us!

In light of the clarity created by the decision, the Saints management has decided to re-open the priority booking period for Season Ticket Holders and Associate Members. The club had received considerable amounts of feedback that Season Ticket Holders and Associate Members were not able to book additional tickets whilst the day of the match was unknown.

Now that the date has been confirmed, Season Ticket Holders and Associate Members will have a further exclusive period until midnight on Friday, November 25th to book additional tickets either via their online ticketing accounts or in person from the Saints Ticket Office.

Tickets will then go on wider sale to supporters who have ordered tickets for Saints home games before (aside from the last home game against Munster) on Saturday, November 26th. These supporters will be emailed a new priority booking code at the end of this week, with the previous code being disabled.

Group bookings are still being taken for parties of 20 or more. Supporters who are interested in making a group booking should contact Dionne Jelley on 01604 599116 or dionnejelley@northamptonsaints.co.uk

“We’re delighted that ERC have listened to our request about holding the Munster match on a Saturday,” said Saints chief executive Allan Robson. “Saints is a traditional ‘Saturday club’, and we’re now able to make the match the focal point of a great weekend of Heineken Cup rugby that fans from both clubs will be able to enjoy together.

“Now that the date has been confirmed we feel our Season Ticket Holders and Associate Members should have a second priority booking period. We received considerable amounts of correspondence which indicated that our members were unable to commit to ordering additional tickets until the date had been confirmed. Now that it has, we want to give them the opportunity to book additional tickets before they go on a wider sale.

“We are excited that the match will be on a Saturday and can now put everything in place to make sure that it is a day to remember!”

http://www.rugbynetwork.net/boards/read/s99.htm?101,12848495
delighed about this, always prefer saturday games

phog wrote: »

This is good for Munster supporters who want to make travel plans but how can some clubs get agreement so early while others must wait until just before Christmas for confirmation of their fixtures?

Because Sky want this game at a certain time?

Surprised they are somewhat negating home advantage by moving.