In an unexpected move, Munster have named Paul O’Connell in their starting XV for this weekend’s opening Heineken Cup Pool game against Racing Metro in Paris. O’Connell, out injured since last Spring, has not featured for Munster this season and his inclusion this weekend comes as a surprise, as a return date had not been set, publicly, by Munster.
Having come through yesterday’s squad session, Paul O’Connell has been named in Munster’s starting XV for their opening Heineken Cup game against Racing Metro on Saturday.
O’Connell will pack down, alongside Billy Holland who is named in place of the injured Donncha O’Callaghan (hamstring), for the first time since the League game against Ulster back in early May. O’Callaghan sat out yesterday’s training spin at CIT and was quite hopeful of being fit but this afternoon the call was made to withdraw him from the squad.
Elsewhere in the pack, Dave Kilcoyne retains the number 1 jersey in the absence of Wian du Preez who sustained a knee injury against Leinster and Donnacha Ryan’s experience was a probable factor in him getting the blind-side berth ahead of Dave O’Callaghan who is named on the bench.
Speaking of O’Connell’s inclusion coach Rob Penney felt it prudent to wait until O’Connell had ‘reported in’ today following the session yesterday before making a decision about his participation or not. ” We’ve always maintained that he’d be back when he felt he was ready. I think it’s great for us. It’s great for Irish rugby, for the rugby community to see a player of his calibre back playing again. It was a gradual process. In the interests of the player it had to be.”
The one unforced change in the backline sees Ian Keatley in at full-back instead of Denis Hurley who is named on the bench.
Munster (v Racing Metro): Ian Keatley; Doug Howlett capt, Casey Laulala, James Downey, Simon Zebo; Ronan O’Gara, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Damien Varley, BJ Botha; Billy Holland, Paul O’Connell; Donncha Ryan, Sean Dougall, Peter O’Mahony. Replacements: Mick Sherry, Marcus Horan, Stephen Archer, Dave O’Callaghan, Paddy Butler, Peter Stringer, Danny Barnes, Denis Hurley.
