Munster sweating over the fitness of O’donnell

The fitness of Irish international back-row forward Tommy O’donnell is Munster’s main concern as they look ahead to Saturday’s massive European Champions Cup clash with Glasgow at Scotstoun.

The flanker hurt his right ankle in last Saturday’s bonuspoint 32-7 win over Racing 92 which took the Irish province ahead of Glasgow at the top of Pool 1 and seems highly unlikely to feature this weekend.

Munster know that a win at Scotstoun would guarantee them a place in the last eight of Europe’s elite competition for the first time in three seasons and director of rugby Rassie Erasmus said: “Tommy is still the biggest [injury] concern. It is not the same ankle he injured against Connacht. We will give him until Wednesday. Last week he made it but this week I think it is a little more serious. We only arrived home on Sunday, so let’s hope he’s not too serious. I don’t think it’s a long-term thing, but I am sure in this turnaround from now until Saturday he won’t make it.”

Erasmus is expecting the first versus second Pool 1 clash against the side who beat them in the 2015 Guinness Pro12 final to be an arm wrestle.

“It’s a massive one. Obviously, last week put us in a position to try and get it this weekend. [Glasgow coach] Gregor [Townsend] and his team would see it the same, so we’re playing away from home,” said the South African.

“It’s going to be a great spectacle and it’s going to be an honour to be part of that.

“It will be a grind, if you look at the weather I think it’s going to be the tactically smart team that wins, and the team that pitches up with intensity.”