Scrum-half injuries the primary worry for Van Graan ahead of tough Exeter trip
ONCE again, a province turns its hopeful eyes to Duncan Williams in a time of scrum-half need.
With Conor Murray out indefinitely with his mystery neck problem, Alby Mathewson struggling with a knee issue that may or may not keep him out of Saturday’s crunch European opener against Exeter Chiefs and Neil Cronin and James Hart sidelined, there is a shortage of No 9s available to train at the University of Limerick this week.
Mathewson will be given every opportunity to prove his fitness if the scans come back with a favourable result, but the likelihood is that Johann van Graan will have Williams and Academy player Jack Stafford on deck for the trip to Sandy Park.
“Alby’s going for a scan a bit later and we’ll wait and see what’s going to happen there,” van Graan said.
“Unfortunately on the injury list currently we’ve got Conor, we’ve got James Hart, Neil Cronin, so next guy in, we’ve got Duncan.
“Duncan’s been there on multiple occasions, a very experienced No 9, and then we’ve got Jack Stafford who’s been going really well for the ‘A’ team.
“He is a young player that’s been waiting for an opportunity and we’ll see how things pan out. It might be an opportunity in Europe this week and that’s the beauty of sport. You can’t plan for these things and if they happen the next guy in has got to take his opportunity and who knows what might happen.
“In a perfect would you would want a guy to train on a Tuesday, not only on a Thursday, but at certain stages when you see what you have available. There is no hard-and-fast rules.
“We’ll see what the scan says first, if he is out then obviously he is out, if it is 50/50 I am going to give him as long as I can to recover and then take it from there.”
There was some positive news on the injury front, with John Ryan, Rhys Marshall and Mike Haley available for the visit to the unbeaten Premiership side.
Ryan’s return puts some heat on Stephen Archer who scrummaged well against Leinster, but was guilty of conceding a silly penalty that halted his side’s momentum immediately after Mathewson’s try last weekend.
Van Graan explained that there was no need to chastise the tight-
head prop who put his hand up at the team’s review meeting yesterday morning.
“If you want to win away you can’t concede any, let’s call them unnecessary penalties,” the South African said.
“All credit to the players, in our team culture, I didn’t need to put it up this morning (in the review), accountability was already taken for all the mistakes we made.
“That’s what we said as a team, if we lose I’ll take responsibility first and so does the team. It’s all about the team and fair play to the players they took that responsibility.
“Look, no rugby player in the world goes on to the field to deliberately try and make a mistake and that’s the beauty of sport, you get the next opportunity to improve.
“There were certain things we didn’t do that well on Saturday and we’ve got an opportunity to improve on that on Saturday.
“‘Archie’ (Archer) is one of the unsung heroes of the squad.
“He is a guy who doesn’t say a lot but if you look at the improvements in his game, he is very good at scrum time, he is one of the best maul setters and maul stoppers, his workrate around the field for a prop is exceptional, he is carrying so well, he cleans well, he is a very good defender and he is one of those glue men in a team.
“He is one of those guys who never really says anything, but once he is not there, there is a big void. That showed last year against Edinburgh when he came off with an injury and we didn’t have him for the semi and we didn’t have him for the start of the season. It is brilliant to have ‘Ryano’ back as well. He has got to come through training this week, but it will be great if we can play tightheads 50 minutes and 30 minutes and 45 minutes and 35 minutes. I think that’s what the modern game is about.”
Another player who has joined the ranks again in full training is Irish-qualified out-half Tyler Bleyendaal who has finally recovered sufficiently from his neck problem to step up his on-field work.
He is unlikely to come into the equation for the senior side, however, and may be deployed in the ‘A’ team’s final Celtic Cup meeting with Leinster this weekend.
“It is a neck injury that he is coming back from, so we will do whatever is the best for him,” the coach said.