Rugby

Niall Scannell back up to full speed and looking forward to Munster’s busy run

Hooker fully recovered from groin injury which kept him out since last summer and at one stage threatened his rugby career

Leinster's Michael Ala'Alatoa is tackled by Munster duo Niall Scannell and Peter O'Mahony. Photograph: Evan Treacy/Inpho

John Fallon
Wed Mar 20 2024 - 16:58

Peter O’Mahony’s future is expected to be finalised next week, possibly with a one-year contract extension in Munster.

But one of his vice-captains, who has grown up with him in the province, is in no doubt the Irish skipper will make up his own mind when he’s ready.

Niall Scannell has soldiered with O’Mahony since both of them came through Pres in Cork and says the Munster and Irish captain will keep his plans very much to himself until he has decided what to do.

“Anyone who knows Pete knows that he would leave you on a blue tick on WhatsApp for a month before he would get back to you, so I definitely don’t know!

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“He’s been unbelievable and I believe any plaudits you give Pete this week aren’t enough. He was a couple of years ahead of me in school, we were in the academy together and I’ve known him a long, long time and even when I was in Irish camp he was always a leader up there. Maybe he didn’t get enough opportunities around captaincy with Rory Best and Johnny [Sexton] and stuff.

“But he was always that talisman up there and it’s great to see him get his just rewards. He is the out and out leader of that group.”

Scannell knows only too well what it’s like to be pondering the end of a professional rugby career and the hooker, who will be 32 in a few weeks, feared before Christmas that a groin injury which kept him out since last summer was going to force him out of the game.

Niall Scannell: 'Hopefully we have a long run of games coming now and potentially it could be up to 15 weeks and that’s exciting for us.' Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho

“We tried a few things and they didn’t work and there was a frustrating period where I felt I wasn’t really getting better. There was definitely a period where I thought I won’t get better and we tried a few different things then.

“I really have to thank the medical team here because they sent me to specialists and I didn’t really respond great to the traditional groin/osteitis pubis treatment. So to be fair to them they went outside the box and did a few different things and it just clicked then near the end, and all of a sudden I felt like I gone months and months hammering my head against the wall to all of a sudden progressing really quickly.”

Scannell, holder of 20 Irish caps and who has made 165 appearances for Munster since his debut against Scarlets in 2013, suddenly found himself back in the frontline when Diarmuid Barron suffered a foot injury and head coach Graham Rowntree threw him in against Toulon in Stade Mayol.

“I almost panicked because the rugby came so quickly because I hadn’t trained or played any,” added Scannell, now in his 11th campaign with Munster after coming through Dolphin RFC.

“It was tough at times but I’m just delighted to back playing. The Toulon game was huge for me because six weeks before that I didn’t know whether I would be playing again.

“It probably panned out well for me, in terms of after Diarmuid’s injury I probably came back at the right time to fill that gap, and then the broken up few weeks probably helped me integrate back to full training. The Toulon and Northampton block, I was by no means ahead of full training. It was kind of bandage me up and get me through it and then the Six Nations block has been brilliant for me to get back.

“Like, I did my first completely full training week last week and I have trained fully this week. So I kind of feel now it has come at the right time where I’m in the routine and probably back up to full speed.

“Hopefully we have a long run of games coming now and potentially it could be up to 15 weeks and that’s exciting for us,” added Scannell, who will hope to add to his 21 Munster tries when he plays against Ospreys in Swansea this Friday night.

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