Donncha O’Callaghan cited for incident with Ulster’s Stuart Olding

Donncha O’Callaghan has been called to account by the match citing commissioner Eddie Walsh for an incident in the 41st minute of Munster’s 21-20win over Ulster on Friday.

The lock caught Stuart Olding with his boot and the Ulster fullback was forced to undergo a Head Injury Assessment (HIA) before returning to play on.

The disciplinary hearing will take place midweek, with d etails yet to be confirmed.

O’Callaghan presented his irascible side to Ulster at Thomond Park, his physical presence at ruck and maul a nuisance to the point of infuriating distraction.

The Munster captain on the night was a catalyst in shifting the momentum away from the visitors to a point where the homeside had the match won only to nearly lose it rather carelessly in the end.

There was more though to his game than simply being an irritant.

Current Irish internationals, national team captain Paul O'Connell and Dave Foley are pencilled in for the visit of Clermont Auvergne as the European Champions Cup resumes, but O'Callaghan offered a reminder that he can add value.

Full blessing

His appetite is undiminished. “There are areas of my game I can improve on but I was happy with how I went. I want to be in the team. I’m not saying I’m a nun or anything. They’ve [O’Connell and Foley] my full blessing but I’m competitive, I want to be in the team.

“But it’s all about us getting a result on Saturday and I’m going to do whatever it takes for that to happen.

“So, yeah, just keep putting my hand up and hopefully trying to impress the coaches, because the best team goes out here.”

Munster face Clermont on the back of a seven-match winning streak. “We’re purely focused game by game so you never think it’ll be great coming into Clermont having a run of (winning) seven games.

Extra niggle

“These matches are on their own merits and the back-to-back ones always bring a little extra niggle. We need to improve.

“I know we’ve got [he] Thomond [Park factor] but that might not be enough if you’ve a slow start like that [12-3 down to Ulster after the first quarter].”

The provincial repatriation of the remaining Ireland squad players should be something to be embraced but O’Callaghan warns that the group cannot leave everything to the returnees.

“We’ve to drive the standards so they can just slot in. But you’re bringing back quality players and they’re on the top of their game at the moment so hopefully they can bring that little bit of intensity.”