Costello waiting on fitness of Ireland international
Head of Rugby Operations and Interim Head Coach Ian Costello. Pic: Dan Sheridan/Inpho
Munster interim boss Ian Costello is waiting on the fitness of one of his squad’s returning Ireland internationals as preparations ramp up for Saturday’s Thomond Park clash with opening Champions Cup pool opponents Stade Francais.
Club captain Tadhg Beirne, Craig Casey, Jack Crowley, Conor Murray, Calvin Nash, and Peter O’Mahony all returned to Munster’s High Performance Centre in Limerick this week following last Saturday’s victory over Australia with the sextet all available for selection following the four-Test Autumn Nations Series.
Yet Costello said: “Waiting on one, but without getting into that, they are all available, as in there's nobody being restricted from playing by the IRFU."
The interim head coach oversaw a URC victory over the Lions in his first competitive match in charge last Saturday night when backline trio Alex Nankivell, Thaakir Abrahams and Shane Daly all returned from injury to help arrest a three-game losing streak in the league with a 17-0 win at Thomond Park.
All three scored tries in that victory, Daly’s from off the bench, and alongside side lock Thomas Ahern, who missed the game following a knock, are available for selection to face the Parisians.
“Someone like Shane Daly was working his way back in through fitness. He's back at full fitness as we would have seen, he was pretty sharp at the weekend. The likes of Thomas Ahern is back to full fitness.
“Oli Jager hopefully back in next week, Dave Kilcoyne hopefully back in next week, which is that area where we've been under pressure, and hopefully again Jean Kleyn not too far away.
“A few guys came back through the A game, Liam Coombes came back and played for example, which was really encouraging as well.”
More patience will be needed for Edwin Edogbo’s recovery from a serious Achilles injury, the interim boss explained, after the lock’s comeback was put back to around Christmas.
“We were hoping back by the end of the year. He's not done anything specific in terms of setback, but it's a slow injury. There was no event… I think the key thing with Edwin is he's coming back off two Achilles (one in each leg), we have to get it right.
“He has such a future, if we get it right, and he's so important to us that I think everybody rightly is saying we've got to do this conservatively but do it right.”
