Kilcoyne: I’d never see myself as a fixture in Ireland squad
MUNSTER’S Dave Kilcoyne will be anxiously looking for an IRFU email this morning to discover if he has been included in the November Test squad.
On current form the 29-year-old prop but must be close to a first cap since this time last year when he ran out against Argentina, but he knows there are no guarantees with Joe Schmidt’s selections
“I would never take myself as a permanent fixture on an Irish squad. If you look at the competition right across all the provinces for every position,” said the Limerick man.
“You have front rows here, me, James (Cronin), then you look at Jack (McGrath), Cian (Healy) at Leinster, then Denis (Buckley), Pete McCabe, I could keep naming them all.
“So I wouldn’t take anything for granted. I am just trying to play as best I can in the minutes I am given with Munster, to put my best foot forward for that.”
Kilcoyne, meanwhile, has called on his team-mates to improve their discipline after they conceded 10 penalties in the last 14 minutes of their Champions Cup win over Gloucester.
Kilcoyne came off the bench in the bonus-point victory and admits he was guilty of conceding a needless offside penalty – one of 17 Munster conceded in the match – but the team has been forewarned of repeat offences against Glasgow Warriors this Saturday.
“Unfortunately, over the past two weeks our penalty count was higher than we wanted it to be.
“Glasgow are top of our conference. We see their away form has been very good, beating Connacht away and Cheetahs away, so unless we fix our discipline we will be in for a very tough game on Saturday.
“It is going to be an extremely tough encounter anyway with their form, but if we give away cheap penalties like we did at the weekend we won’t stand a chance against them.”
Meanwhile, Connacht’s Kieran Marmion has shaken off the effects of injury and will be fit for Ireland selection.
The 22-times-capped Marmion has missed Connacht’s last two games with an ankle injury but has returned to training ahead of their trip to Bridgend to face Ospreys this Friday.
Craig Ronaldson could be ruled out of the rest of the season after he sustained damage to several ligaments in his knee, including his AC, according to Connacht’s Nigel Carolan.
Conor McKeon had surgery this week on a shoulder injury and he is expected to be out until the early months of 2019.