News of O’Connell and O’Gara is Good.

Paul O’Connell who withdrew from the Edinburgh game before kick-off and Ronan O’Gara who retired injured in the 9th minute of that Magners League match are both expected to be fit to face Leicester

Paul O’Connell who withdrew from the Edinburgh game before kick-off and Ronan O’Gara who retired injured in the 9th minute of that Magners League match are both expected to be fit to face Leicester Tigers in the Heineken Cup clash at Welford Road next Sunday.

And while that is good news from a Munster point of view, of immediate concern is the poor form of the defending champions as highlighted by their latest performance in the Magners League. Edinburgh must be given credit for the way they played and it must be said, there has never been much separating the sides in the past, but the Munster display was deeply disappointing.

A week prior, the poor second half peformance against Leinster was put down to the ring-rustiness of the returning internationals and it was therefore expected that we would see something of an improvement this time around but that did not prove to be the case at all.

Once again Munster turned over, knocked-on and kicked away ball. Their line-out was totally out of sorts – as it had been against Leinster – and their defence has now conceded 7 tries in two games. It might have been more. Edinburgh were held up over the line on three occasions.

Forgetting all about what lies ahead of them next weekend, Munster’s position in the Magners League is extremely worrying. They are second from bottom, just four points above Border Reivers and next up for them is the trip to Stradey Park to play second placed Scarlets in November and thats follwed by the visit of Ospreys. Both these games taking place when the internationals may be otherwise engaged.

So things may very well get worse for Munster before they get better but their supporters will be hoping that the Heineken Cup has a restorative affect on them.