Munster prop James Cronin cited for stamping

Munster prop James Cronin has been cited for stamping on Leinster scrumhalf Jamison Gibson-Park during Saturday’s Pro 12 game at the Aviva stadium.

Under law 10.4 (b) Cronin, if found guilty, and there is clear video evidence of the incident, can be suspended from two weeks, low end, up to 16-plus weeks, high end.

Citing officer Eddie Walsh (IRFU) decided there was a case to answer following an incident that occurred in the 73rd minute while Munster were camped on the Leinster try line. Cronin’s studs appear to make contact with Gibson-Park’s head.

A ban would put severe pressure on Rassie Erasmus’s loosehead prop stocks ahead of the Champions Cup opener against Racing 92 in Paris this Sunday, as Dave Kilcoyne was forced off last weekend with concussion.

Leinster have lost Fergus McFadden for a “few months” following a torn quad sustained against Cardiff, but assistant coach Girvan Dempsey believes Seán O’Brien’s return from hamstring surgery is imminent.

Contact

O’Brien has taken some contact in recent days after his latest eight-month stint in rehab.

“We’re hopeful. He got through some training last week, he’s going to up his volume this week, so, we’ll just see how he goes. He’s very close. Very, very close,” said Dempsey

Despite Robbie Henshaw coming straight back into the team following a four-month layoff after knee surgery, it seems unlikely that O’Brien will feature against Castres this Saturday at the RDS.

“That’s something we as coaches would discuss. We’ll discuss the merits of it, how we use him, if he comes through training and is available for action, what’s best for him and the team, whether that be starting him or coming off the bench or if he comes through a certain volume of work, or is it a week too early, depends how he gets through training the next two days.

Training

“He was on the field training with us last week. He didn’t participate in all of it. He did a little bit of contact and he is going to be out training today and doing more contact. We’re hoping he is able to get through all of the training. If he gets through today and tomorrow he will be available for selection.”

Josh van der Flier is expected to start at openside after being rested against Munster.

“We’re very fortunate, we’ve massive competition there,” Dempsey added. “A lot of guys are playing and training really well, putting pressure on each other. That’s what you want, that healthy competition where guys are challenging each other. You saw it last week.”

Jordi Murphy and Rhys Ruddock joined Jamie Heaslip in Leo Cullen’s backrow against Munster, with Dan Leavy used off the bench.

When asked about Leinster’s use of cortisone injections and TUEs, following the Racing 92 case, Dempsey said: “I’m not going to comment on that. I read bits in the press on that but that is Racing. I’m not going to comment on that.”