Kidney Enthused As New Backs Gell Quickly
Paul Warwick and Rua Tipoki really took the bull by the horns against the Scarlets on Saturday as – defying the fact that it was their first competitive game playing together in Munster red – the Antipodean pair gelled quickly to guide Declan Kidney’s side to a 26-16 victory over the Welsh visitors.
Delighted by the way former Connacht out-half Warwick and New Zealand Maori captain Tipoki linked up, Kidney said: “That was Paul and Rua’s first time playing at 10 and 12 together and they gelled well. This is all about a squad. This team is never about any one person and that’s the way we’ll keep it and they’ve certainly slotted into that, and hopefully they’ll go on to enjoy a lot more games.”
Warwick certainly announced himself as a Munster player at the weekend as he hit the Scarlets for 21 points – scoring a try, two conversions and four penalties – in a man of the match display. The former Australian Sevens skipper thrives on an attacking style of rugby and Kidney sees no harm in Munster playing an ‘off the cuff’ game, as long as his players keep getting the right results.
“If you have the ball you want to control it and play it at your pace but you’d never knock enthusiasm for it, so if the boys feel that it’s good to tap and go then I won’t stop them – they’re the ones that make the decisions on the pitch. We’ve been caught a few times by those quick tap-and-go moves, and when it works for us I’m not complaining,” he beamed.
Meanwhile, on the injury front, Munster’s Denis Fogarty and Niall Ronan, whose games were cut short at Musgrave Park on Saturday due to injury, could be forced to sit out the province’s trip to the Newport Gwent Dragons next Friday.
Flanker Ronan sustained a leg injury in what was his competitive debut for Munster, while a medical examination has shown that hooker Fogarty, who was forced to retire with a hand injury in the 49th-minute against the Scarlets, has escaped breaking any bones. An update on the fitness of the two players will be released in the coming days.
Encouragingly for Kidney and his coaching staff, full-back Denis Hurley, who went over on his ankle during Munster’s pre-season game against the US Eagles, is expected to resume training this week as is Ireland-capped centre Barry Murphy, who is recovering from an ankle operation.