Flannery is ruled out for up to six weeks

RUGBY NEWS ROUND-UP:AN MRI scan has revealed that Jerry Flannery will be sidelined for four to six weeks with a calf muscle tear sustained during last weekend's Magners League victory over Ulster at Thomond Park.

The 32-year-old came on as a replacement for Damien Varley on 54 minutes but misfortune struck on the final passage of play.

It was only his second appearance in a red jersey this season. On the previous occasion he lasted just 20 minutes, again as a replacement, in Munster’s Heineken Cup win over Toulon last October.

Flannery will miss the province’s brace of pool matches and could be ruled out of Ireland’s opening matches against Italy and France in the Six Nations Championship.

Munster coach Tony McGahan has until next Tuesday lunch-time to decide whether to replace Flannery for the pool matches against Toulon and London Irish with academy prospect Seán Henry, or take a chance on retaining just two hookers, Varley and Mike Sherry, and instead bolster the depth at prop by registering Kiwi Peter Borlase.

Better news for McGahan is the return of James Coughlan to the squad for Saturday’s Magners League game against Glasgow at Musgrave Park. The backrow was told by a specialist that his cheekbone injury was not as serious as first feared.

John Hayes, Donncha O’Callaghan, David Wallace, Ronan O’Gara and Johne Murphy are available again this weekend.

Leinster coach Joe Schmidt will be able to call upon Luke Fitzgerald for tomorrow night’s game against the Ospreys following his recovery from a knee injury. Fitzgerald took a full part in training this week.

It seems unlikely, though, that the in-form Seán O’Brien will feature at the RDS. He suffered a facial laceration and retired after 13 minutes of the victory over Connacht and won’t be risked ahead of two big European clashes against Saracens and Racing Metro 92.

Schmidt and Leinster received a fillip ahead of a crucial period in the province’s season with the confirmation that Cian Healy had signed a new deal that sees him contracted until 2013.

He is the third Irish player, alongside O’Gara and O’Callaghan, to put pen to paper in the last couple of months. The 23-year-old has represented Ireland at Schools, under-19, under-20, A and full international level, winning 13 caps for the senior team. He has already notched up 68 appearances for Leinster.

“I am delighted to have my new contract signed as it means I can continue to concentrate on playing for my home province and improving my game,” Healy said. “It has been a good couple of weeks for us and so I just want to focus on playing well for Leinster to keep me firmly in the plans of Declan (Kidney) and the national team.”

The Ireland coach said: “For a young player like Cian who has progressed really well over the last 18 months this is good news as it allows him to continue to develop as a player in Ireland. He has approached every challenge with the same, hard-working attitude, and if he continues to do this he can become an even better player.”

Meanwhile, Exeter Chiefs and former Ireland Under-19 and Under-21 outhalf Gareth Steenson has revealed he was sounded out by the English RFU at the beginning of the season with a view to potentially representing England at some point.

The 26-year-old Steenson, who played in an Under-21 World Cup final for Ireland in 2004 – they lost to New Zealand – qualifies for England on residency grounds.

He told rbs6nations.com: “When I was playing at the start of the season nobody from the Irish national set-up got in touch with me, although I did take a call from someone involved with the English set-up.

“All the call said was that they were keeping tabs on a few players who had started the season well and I was one of them, which was nice recognition to get.”

Steenson scored 68 points for the Chiefs in the early part of the season before being sidelined with a knee injury between October and December. He recently returned to action as a replacement against the Leicester Tigers.

In that game, coincidentally, the current England outhalf, Toby Flood, came on as a replacement for the Tigers.

Steenson continued: “I have never spoken to Declan Kidney or anyone involved with the Irish set-up, but I have in the England camp. Until then I hadn’t given it much thought, but we will have to wait and see what happens now.

“You never know what could happen in rugby and I could have a choice to make down the line – but until then there is a lot of rugby to play.”

MUNSTER (squad):Wian Du Preez, Darragh Hurley, Tony Buckley, John Hayes, Peter Borlase, Mike Sherry, Damien Varley, Billy Holland, Donncha O'Callaghan, Mick O'Driscoll, Donnacha Ryan, Niall Ronan, James Coughlan, Tommy O'Donnell, David Wallace, Denis Leamy, Tomás O'Leary, Peter Stringer, Scott Deasy, Ronan O'Gara, Paul Warwick, Johne Murphy, Sam Tuitupou, Keith Earls, Lifeimi Mafi, Denis Hurley, Doug Howlett.