Munster head coach Johann van Graan was not looking best pleased after his side’s 36-22 win over Gloucester in the Champions Cup.
The South African was not too pleased with his side’s concession of 16 penalties and a couple of consolation tries but one suspects a string of bad injuries to key players had darkened his mood.
Rhys Marshall, Dan Goggin and Tommy O’Donnell, who broke his leg, will all be out for the next while. Van Graan said:
“With all the injuries that we have currently that are not in the squad, long season ahead but it’s waiting from our side and it just shows the game at this stage. We talk about player welfare but the game is becoming more and more physical, guys are getting shots, three serious injuries from our side… Huge for us, those three guys.”
Added to this headache – with Jaco Taute and Chris Farrell still out of action – is hooker Niall Scannell being out of the mix for the next two Guinness PRO14 games. Scannell injured his ankle in training but van Graan is hopeful, for the player’s sake, that he will be able to play for Ireland next month.
“I don’t think it’s a six-to-eight week injury but it does take time to settle,” he said. “We kind of gave him time, until Thursday, to have a look at it and I thought another week or two (was necessary), I’ll get an update from the medical team on Monday.”
Scannell will miss this weekend’s game against Glasgow and is unlikely to travel to Chicago for Ireland’s Test against Italy.
“Look the injury doesn’t seem to be too serious,” van Graan added, “he has been playing brilliant rugby.
“I know that they have Test rugby coming up in two weekends time, so I don’t see why, if Joe wanted to select him, why he wouldn’t select him now. Like I said, that is Joe Schmidt’s choice.”
