MUNSTER HAVE INCLUDED academy back row Dave O’Callaghan in their 28 man squad for this Saturday’s trip to face Northampton in Milton Keynes.
The Youghal native, who just turned 22, has been called up due to the knee-ligament injury sustained by Niall Ronan in the win over Castres. Ronan must undergo further assesment before a time-frame for his return is put in place. Injuries to Denis Leamy and David Wallace had already thinned the back-row options of head coach Tony McGahan, who is without a total of 11 players through injury (see them here).
McGahan is expected to stick with the combination used after Ronan’s withdrawal. That should mean a recall for Donncha O’Callaghan and another chance for Peter O’Mahoney to impress on the openside as Donnacha Ryan will revert to the number six jersey.
Ulster have been dealt a blow ahead of their pivotal trip to Clermont Auvergne with the news that centre, Darren Cave, will be out of action for six weeks after injuring his foot in last Friday’s 41 – 7 win over Leicester. Cave was replaced by Ian Whitten on the night and is again likely to take up the centre position alongside Paddy Wallace.
Meanwhile, Leinster are also vying for top seeding come the quarter final stage and they expect Jonathan Sexton to fully recover from the ankle knock he took in Glasgow. Sexton was fit enough to complete that game, though Fergus McFadden eased the pressure on him by taking over the kicking tee. With McFadden, Isa Nacewa and Rob Kearney all expected to be on the field for this Saturday’s 18,500 sell-out, the fly-half probably won’t risk a kick unless he is 100% fit.
Luke Fitzgerald missed the trip with minor strains in his glute and neck, so he should come straight back into the side for the visit of Montpelier. Returns are also expected for Richardt Strauss (face), Kevin McLaughlin (neck) and Steven Sykes (hamstring). The trio will be a welcome return as the provinces look forward to another long period without their top internationals.
Great save by Kelleher near the end. Comfortable afternoon for him
Top player.
Super performance and result albeit against a woeful Watford. Unlikely to be a worse performance by any PL team this season. Salah is unbelievable and his goal was magical, give him the contract his performances and goals deserve. Great to see Firmino scoring. Though Kelleher had nothing to do he kept his concentration to make a very good save at the end. Gonna be a tight title race. Surprised Salah and Mane played the 90 minutes, Minamino could have done with game time especially against that Watford team.
Mo Salah is WOW!!! a pleasure to watch him…..Firmino not bad either : )
Time to sack Ranieri…….
@John S: dilly ding dilly dong
@Heckler davies: dilly ding, dilly gone
Class win and 3 more handy points. We will be hard to stop This season as we put last seasons blip behind us
Danny Rose will sleep tonight. Great performance against an albeit poor side!!
Give Mo all the money. Almost 0% chance of being able to replace him
Lewandowski and Salah are the best players in the world on current form.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a PL side as bad as that Watford side today….if they lost 10-0 it wouldn’t have been a surprise! Woeful…
@Ottomaaan: you forgot to mention that they were up against a solid side with a rampant front three, there, I fixed it for you…. :)
@Gordon Larney: no need to fix anything. That was the worst performance I’ve ever seen from a PL side, dreadful stuff and Liverpool could have put 10 past them.
@Ottomaaan: have to agree. I was at the game and never seen such a bad performance from a PL team.
Salah in great form. But how long canhe hold that form? He has 20-25 goals in him a season, but he’s up and down. If he held this form, he’d be close to 40 goals?
Bigger tests against Athletico and United on the way.
@Finn Faulkner: did you like your own comment…
@Finn Faulkner: how long can he do that. ? He has been doing it for the last 4 seasons. 104 goals in 166 games in the Premier league but you think he should score more. Okay so
@Finn Faulkner: you’re gonna need bigger bait on that hook ….
@WESHALLNOTBEMOVED: But by that metric 4 seasons at 40 goals would be 160 goals. He hasn t done that. But my point is that if he can keep that killer hat on his head for a prolonged period, and with our squad almost injury free, he could break records for us. I’m HOPING he keeps this lethal form indefinitely. He still can’t be put in the Messi/Ronaldo category until he starts being seriously clinical. I’d love to see him win the Balloon d’Or this year (or the next)
@len len: No, but seeing as you need likes, here, have mine. Have a lovely day.
@WESHALLNOTBEMOVED: you included his Chelsea stats there, it’s 102 in 153 for Liverpool
@Shane Roche: It’s still an amazing number of goals per season, but I think he can go even further, he needs to keep this current form. Biggest tests are against Athletico and then United.
That salah. Goal was pure roy of the rovers.. Pure art.. He must be a great dancer..
As good as Liverpool are, and they are really good. This in my opinion is all about Klopp.