Farrell’s injury only blight in Kings rout
Concern for Ireland as centre hobbles off
MUNSTER eased to a bonus-point victory over the Southern Kings in Cork last night, but Chris Farrell’s leg injury will be a worry for Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt.
Farrell was one of five internationals returning to the Munster fold following their recent involvement in the Six Nations training camp, along with Niall Scannell, John Ryan, Billy Holland and Andrew Conway.
Farrell — who started Ireland’s 22-13 win against Scotland in Murrayfield last Saturday — left the action after 17 minutes with a knee injury.
It is a further worry for Schmidt ahead of next Sunday’s clash with Italy in Rome with Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose managing leg injuries at present.
And it is another injury blow for the 25-year-old, who has endured an injury-ravaged 12 months due to knee and quad muscle issues.
Munster forwards coach Jerry Flannery sought to allay fears over Farrell.
‘I think Chris just tweaked his knee in a carry,’ he said.
‘He already had it strapped before so I think it is just precautionary.’
Farrell’s injury apart, it was a routine night for Johann van Graan’s men, who cruised to a seven-try rout of the South African visitors.
The Kings certainly didn’t help themselves with some shocking discipline and lost three players to the sin-bin at key stages of the game: Ruaan Lerm, Tertius Kruger and Andy Ntsila are spending time on the touchline.
It took only 13 minutes for Munster to break the Kings line thanks to a typically robust carry from midfielder Farrell.
From the recycle, scrum-half Neil Cronin spotted a huge gap in the fringe of the ruck and darted over for the first touchdown of the game.
Dan Goggin was then sent into the fray to fill the Farrell-sized void in the centres.
Despite losing Lerm to the bin, the Kings held tough but they were broken again just before the break when Tyler Blyendaal found Andrew Conway with a lovely skip pass, and the Munster wing strolled for the home side’s second try.
The hosts had their third try after 54 minutes. Quick hands from Bleyendaal and Goggin freed up Conway, who sent a deft kick down the blindside with Darren Sweetnam winning the race to the loose ball.
It was a question of when, not if, the bonus-point try would arrive and Billy Holland duly barged his way over.
The home pack were in full control in the final quarter as replacement hooker Rhys Marshall rumbled his way over from a surging lineout maul.
Jean Kleyn then powered through some feeble Kings tacklers for try No5 after some woeful defending at the lineout before Rory Scannell rounded off the night with a final try at the death.
MUNSTER: M Haley; A Conway, C Farrell (D Goggin 17), R Scannell, D Sweetnam; T Bleyendaal (capt, JJ Hanrahan 65), N Cronin (A Mathewson 48); J Loughman (L O’Connor 48), N Scannell (R Marshall 61), J Ryan (S Archer 61); J Kleyn, B Holland (D O’Shea 61); F Wycherley, C Cloete, A Botha (G Coombes 67).
Scorers – Tries: Cronin, Conway, Sweetnam, Holland, Kleyn, Marshall, R Scannell. Cons: Scannell (4).
SOUTHERN KINGS: M Banda (U Beyers 63); Y Penxe, M Rokoua, B Klaasen, B Basson (T Kruger 61), P Bader, S Ungerer (S Pretorius 55); S Ferreira (A Tshakweni 71), M Willemse (A Van Rooyen 63), D Terblanche (P Scholtz 51); D Van Schalk (S Greeff 63), J Astle (capt); S De Wit (A Ntsila 63), M Burger, R Lerm.
Referee: A Piardi (Italy).