MUNSTER COULD BE forced to plan without centre Francis Saili for the rest of the year, with the New Zealander now expected to be out until January.
Saili was forced to undergo a second shoulder surgery in pre-season and was initially expected to be out for ‘up to four months,’ which would have seen him back by December, but his return date could be pushed out further to the new year.
Saili has already been ruled out of the first four rounds of the Champions Cup, but now faces a race against time to break back into the team for rounds five and six in the middle of January.
Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus has already moved to bring in South African centre Jaco Taute to fill in for the dynamic centre, but he is not yet ready to join the match-day 23 for Saturday’s trip to Dragons — he should be ready for a Thomond Park debut against Edinburgh next weekend though.
Taute has been capped for the Springboks in the past and the 25-year-old will bring some much-needed experience to the Munster 12 and 13 shirts, but the loss of Saili is still a big blow, says Erasmus.
Francis will be out until January. We don’t want to get someone for longer than than, and we have to get a quality guy, but we have restrictions over the number of foreigners we can play,” said Erasmus.
“Jaco is the kind of character that will bring a lot to the team and I hope he performs well.”
Munster will also be without the concussed Tommy O’Donnell this weekend, while Rory Scannell’s neck injury should be okay after another week on the sidelines. Stephen Archer is not available this weekend either, while Robin Copeland remains sidelined due to a number of niggles.
Conor Murray and Keith Earls are back in harness this week, after their staggered return from international duty, while CJ Stander and Donnacha Ryan are also available after appearances from the bench last weekend.
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He’s not as disappointed as some on relation to how far off they are? They are miles off. No offence to Munster but they are an average,though very gutsy and committed side,and they have hammers Leinster twice in a row now. I do agree that they haven’t had any continuity with combinations,especially from 9-13,and hopefully when the likes of OBrien, Healy, Moore, Teo, McFadden etc come back then there will be a big improvement.
I must take the opportunity to praise Matt O’Connor for the huge improvement in Guinness Pro12 teams. Ever since he arrived at Leinster, every other team has greatly improved. Teams, that two years ago were almost brushed aside by Leinster, have now reached the heights that Leinster once inhabited alone.
Treviso have improved, Munster have improved, Edinburgh have improved, Scarlets have improved, Dragons have improved, Zebra have improved, Connacht (brilliant tonight, by the way) have improved..
In fact, they have all improved so much that Leinster has great difficulty taking on any of them.
By extension, Wasps and Harlequins have shown just how brilliant they are too due to you Matt.
I can hardly wait to see how much Castres get better when they arrive at the RDS soon. They will build statues in your image all over the town.
Matt, you have done European rugby a great service. They have all reached and surpassed Leinster this season thanks to your input at Leinster and everywhere else.
Thank you Matt and Happy New year!.
(and also to Mr Caputo, the news paper seller. Your influence on all other teams has been exceptional)