Nick Williams will miss Friday night

MUNSTER back-row forward Nick Williams, forced off in the pre-season win over the Sale Sharks at Musgrave Park with a knee injury, will miss this Friday night’s game against London Irish at Musgrave Park (7pm).
Williams’ injury however is not as bad as it first appeared and the Kiwi is expected to recover after a period of rest. He is set to have further medical assessment later in the week.
Tony McGahan’s youthful Munster side made the best possible start to their programme of three pre-season friendlies against Guinness Premiership opposition when securing a gritty 19-17 victory over the Sharks.
McGahan’s experimental starting XV included nine players who were wearing the Munster jersey for the very first time. The Munster side which defeated the Sharks included several Academy and Sub-Academy players. Each of the 25 players in Munster’s enlarged squad saw action on the night.
Munster complete their programme of pre-season friendlies away to the Leicester Tigers at Welford Road on Friday, August 28. They begin the defence of the Magners League against the Glasgow Warriors at Firhill a week later. Munster play their first home competitive game of the next season in Limerick on Friday, September 11 when the Cardiff Blues visit Thomond Park (7.05pm).
Meanwhile Munster captain Paul O’Connell will have to wait until November to learn whether his successful spell as Lions skipper this summer will result in the Limerickman assuming the role of Irish captain this season. Irish coach Declan Kidney said he planned to adopt the same policy in relation to naming his team captain as last season. Then Kidney delayed making the announcement that Brian O’Driscoll would continue in the role until just before the November internationals. Grand Slam champions Ireland face Australia, Fiji and South Africa on successive weekends in Dublin this autumn.
O’Driscoll led Ireland to their first Grand Slam success in 61 years last March, while O’Connell received lavish praise for his captaincy of Ian McGeechan’s British & Irish Lions squad this summer.
Speaking in Limerick yesterday during an Irish squad training camp at UL Kidney explained: “I have talked to Brian (O’Driscoll) about it and we will do the same as last year. I think it is well documented that he had some laser surgery on his eyes over the past couple of weeks, so his own pre-season needs a bit of time and space for him to have a good one. Let’s see who rolls up in November and we can see where we go from there then.
“I think one of the strengths is that we have a Grand Slam-winning captain, we have a Lions captain and two other guys who captained the Lions at different stages of the tour, the Heineken Cup captain, a co-captain in the Magners League and one from the Churchill. I understand there will be a bit of speculation, but my job is to try and look after each guy.”
Kidney explained that Ireland and Munster hooker Jerry Flannery will be out of action for ‘a couple of weeks’ after tweaking his calf muscle last week. Munster scrum-half Tomas O’Leary will not resume contact work in training until he visits his surgeon at the end of his month to find out how his recovery from a fractured ankle injury is progressing.
Coach Kidney said O’Leary’s recovery was ‘progressing nicely’ .
Kidney also warned supporters about having sky high expectations of the side as a result of their Grand Slam winning exploits in March.
“I was lucky enough to be involved with teams which won something one year and you become the target everyone else judges themselves off the next season,” Declan Kidney said.
“That is just pretty much the same. I feel there was lots of talk that when we managed to get the win over Argentina that we were not too good.
“I didn’t think that was true. I don’t think we are the greatest team in the world right now even thought that might be thought in some places.
“If we did nothing else but learn off the economic situation for the past 10 years, let’s not get greedy.
“If we get greedy and expect it, then no one is going to have any fun out of any of this. We have a match against Australia in two months time. That is all we are looking forward to.”

Colm Kinsella