D-Day looms for Marcus Horan

DOUBTS over the participation of prop Marcus Horan in the upcoming autumn internationals are expected to be cleared up this weekend when the results of medical tests carried out on the 32-year-old are known.
Marcus Horan was replaced mid-way through the opening half of Munster’s Heineken Cup Pool match against Treviso at Thomond Park last month after reportedly feeling unwell.


Sixty six times capped Horan has been undergoing medical tests away from the Limerick-based Irish camp this week and the results of those tests are expected to be known this Friday.
Ireland will face Australia in the first of three games in the Guinness autumn international series on Sunday, November 15.
Irish coach Declan Kidney explained: “There are on-going investigations and, not being a medic, I wouldn’t know (exactly what is wrong). I know that Marcus is not able to train and it is just prudent. He is just getting looked after and as soon as we know more we will let you know. In this job you can’t afford to rule guys out until they are definitely out. He would need to be active next week to be involved with it.
“The investigations are taking place and the latest that we have is that they will have something concrete on Friday. I would only be adding to the rumours if I was to come out and say something now.
“But I was talking to him - he’s in good form - giving out to me as much as ever. He’s just not medically right. Sometimes you can talk about injuries in terms of calves and muscles, but this is something else. What it is I just don’t know yet.”

Jerry Flannery setback
Speaking at a press conference at the Carlton Castletroy Park Hotel this Wednesday, Kidney also explained that Munster hooker Jerry Flannery had a setback in training this week.
Flannery hasn’t played since tearing his calf against Northampton in Munster’s opening Heineken Cup pool match in the middle of last month.
Flannery will be given every opportunity to prove his fitness before the clash with the Wallabies at Croke Park.
Kidney revealed that the Irish medical staff have had a number of injuries and ailments to deal with over the first two days of the Limerick camp.
“We have a number of players who are at different stages - Tomas (O’Leary), Paddy Wallace and Denis Leamy have colds,” Declan Kidney said.
“We got through training okay this morning (Wednesday), but we just had to work our way through it.
“With the lads playing last weekend, and that’s what we would have wanted as you don’t want to go too long without a game, but you don’t want to cut it too short either.
“Rob (Kearney) was out, Gordon D’Arcy played a little bit of a part this morning as did Brian (O’Driscoll). The non-contact stuff basically for the two of those.
“Tony Buckley is rehabbing away (on a calf injury) and that’s probably one of the more long-term ones. It will probably be a week or so before he gets back into it. Jerry (Flannery) didn’t tog out today, Leo Cullen is rehabbing and Paddy Wallace will hopefully get back into things tomorrow.”

Team captain
Declan Kidney also confirmed that Brian O’Driscoll will continue as Ireland captain for their opening internationals of the new season.
Coach Kidney said: “Paul (O’Connell) has captained the Lions and captained Munster quite well, Donncha (O’Callaghan) has captained the Lions and Ronan (O’Gara) has captained the Lions. Ronan has captained with Munster and Ireland also.
“In Brian’s case, he brings a lot of experience to it, like the other lads would do, he is motoring well at the moment so we just felt it prudent.
“It’s been a long time since we were together, six or seven months, so, for continuity and for a whole host of reasons really, we decided to stay with him.”
But the Irish management team will continue to take a series by series approach to the captaincy, meaning that they may opt for a new man when Ireland defend their Six Nations title in the spring.
“It’s like we dealt with it last year, it is just on a series by series basis,” Kidney continued.
“That helps in Brian’s case, too, as it doesn’t heap pressure on him for a whole year and allows him to come in and be captain and then just get on with his game in December and January. We will see him again come February, but I think any one of a host of guys could actually do that.”
Ireland’s current 39-man squad will be whittled down to 30 players this Friday, with the team and replacements to face Australia being named on Wednesday afternoon.

Munster A
James Coughlan will lead Munster A, in their final before the start of the British and Irish Cup, when they take on Ulster in Musgrave Park on Friday afternoon (2pm).
The side shows just five changes, three in the backs and two up front, from the one that saw off Leinster 21-15 last time out in Clonmel RFC.
Ian Nagle- injured on that occasion- returns to partner Dave Foley in the second row, while the experienced Damien Varley comes into the front row in place of Mike Sherry who is included on the bench.
In the backs, injury rules Duncan Williams out and Paul Rowley steps up to partner Declan Cusack while coach Anthony Foley can call on senior international Denis Hurley and A international Felix Jones to replace Danny Barnes and Ronan O’Mahony respectively.
O’Mahony is named on the bench and Barnes will be on duty tomorrow for the Munster Academy when they take on the Ireland U20s in Athlone.

Munster A: Danny Riordan; Felix Jones,Tom Gleeson, Scott Deasy, Denis Hurley; Declan Cusack, Paul Rowley; Dave Kilcoyne, Damian Varley, Stephen Archer; Ian Nagle, Dave Foley; Billy Holland, Tommy O’Donnell, James Coughlan (Capt).
Replacements: Mike Sherry, Christy Condon, Kieran Essex, Pater O’Mahony, Conor Murray, Ronan O’Mahony, Eric Maloney.

Colm Kinsella

John Hayes is an example to us all

ALL eyes will be on John Hayes this week. Normally you might expect an international prop to embody the brooding demeanour of an off-duty assassin, but in person Cappamore’s favourite son is quiet, friendly and all the talk of Ireland’s most capped player will probably bring the hint of an embarrassed blush to the face of the 35-year-old.


Fuss isn’t John Hayes’ thing; he takes the art of self-effacement to new levels - when Munster won the Heineken Cup in 2006 he dodged the celebrations and watched Declan Kidney’s players tour around Limerick from the comfort of his sitting room.
But Hayes will find fuss hard to avoid this week. Against England he equaled Malcolm O’Kelly’s Irish caps record (92) and he will surpass it against Scotland to become Ireland’s most-capped player in international rugby history.
Hayes has only missed 11 of Ireland’s last 103 international tests, if he plays against Wales in Cardiff he will surpass Fabien Pelous’ all-time record of 48 appearances in the Six Nations and he will draw level with Anthony Foley as the joint-record holder for most appearances in the Heineken Cup if he plays a part in the quarter-final clash with the Ospreys.
Then there’s the career highlights: helping Munster to Heineken Cup glory (twice), the Triple Crowns and Shannon’s string of All-Ireland League titles.

Only tells half the story
Such highlights however only tell half of the John Hayes story.
John was intrigued by rugby after watching the 1991 World Cup and a year later, at the age of 19 in September 1992, he played his first game in the back-row for Bruff against Newcastle West - a 0-0 draw.
Hayes had gingerly stepped onto a rugby field like a man easing himself into a canoe, but found he liked it.
Hayes played a handful of games for Bruff in ’92 before moving to the Shannon under-20s and under the nose of Niall O’Donovan who played a critical part in his development.
His next move was to play for Marist in Invercargill, New Zealand. The Kiwis transformed Hayes from a welder who played rugby into a rugby player who welded. Marist also moved him from the second row to prop forward - when the RFU decided to permit lifting in the line-out everything changed for the Cappamore man.
When he returned to Ireland Hayes slotted into the Shannon front-row and was soon packing down in the colours of Munster.
He helped the Parish to the 1998 AIL title and next thing he knew he was called into the Irish squad for the summer tour to South Africa, he was too green for the ’99 World Cup, but he made his debut for Ireland against Scotland the following year.

Unfair criticism
Like a gopher in the garden, the notion that John Hayes isn’t good at what he does, keeps popping its nose up out of the dirt. It’s a pesky rodent which requires a whack in the skull.
His critics suggest he is too tall to be a prop and that he can’t scrummage. To ask a player of John Hayes’ size to play at number three is asking for trouble and he has had his off days in rugby’s most demanding and most technical position - indeed the true horror of the scrum cannot be grasped by those who have never faced one. But a bulldozer wouldn’t budge John Hayes in a scrum now; you could take a lump hammer onto the field and not get anything off him. If, in May 2006, Hayes had not held his ground in a vital scrum against Biarritz in the Heineken Cup final Peter Stringer could not have stolen in to score his crucial try.
John Hayes can also run forever, he’s an awesome rucker, one of the best defensive props in the game and the best lineout lifter in the world - remember the 2008 Six Nations: against Italy at Lansdowne Road Paul O’Connell stole an Italian throw which led to Jerry Flannery’s try. The remarkable thing about that score is that John Hayes lifted O’Connell all by his lonesome.

Looking everyone in the eye
Questions used to follow John Hayes around, but now he can look everyone in the eye. He has been through the mill and come out with a high polish. If there’s one man Ireland can’t do without it’s John Hayes, he’s indispensable - God help Ireland if John Hayes twists a ankle out herding his 150 acres some evening.
A question is often asked about sporting prowess: how much is success down to perseverance as opposed to natural talent?
Since the same question can be asked of life in general, the answers might provide some clues as to how much of our destinies are in our own hands. More profound is the whole issue of whether we could have achieved more, if only we had tried harder. When you watch someone like Brian O’Driscoll perform brilliantly it’s actually reassuring to think that we could never have competed with them, but the argument doesn’t follow that we could not have competed at a high level.
Natural talent is just one ingredient of success and not always the most important one. In fact most sports feature notable examples of people like John Hayes whose hard work has enabled them to overachieve.
If effort and determination can separate the very good and exceptional, can it also make the difference between being mediocre and being able to compete at a high level?
It’s peculiar that some people often seem to rejoice (at least a little) when an average player fails to make the grade. It’s as if it confirms what perhaps many secretly fear: that our own failures are not down to what life has presented us with in terms of talent, but instead our inability to make the most of it.
At the launch of his rugby career John Hayes was known as the calf, then the bullock and now the bull.
That progression is a sporting example to us all.

Brian McDonnell