Munster manager Anthony Foley believes the return of Keith Earls and James Cronin from injury in the 31-7 bonus-point win over Zebre in Parma on Saturday will give his squad a "massive boost".
Earls made his first appearance of the season off the bench in the second half at Stadio XXV Aprile after recovering from a knee injury picked up in Irish camp in August. He has never played under Joe Schmidt but a good showing next weekend against Saracens in the Champions Cup could see him come into the reckoning for the Six Nations.
Loosehead prop James Cronin also made his return off the bench after being out with a shoulder injury.
“It was a great opportunity for them to throw their hat in the ring, particularly with next week in mind,” said Foley afterwards. “And it was great for them to get a good hit-out out there, both of them to get over 20 minutes in the second-half.
“It was good to see Earlsy flying into a few tackles and Jamesie being his robust self out there. It gives the whole squad a massive lift to have quality players coming back of that calibre.”
Foley, who had an injury scare around Irish scrumhalf Conor Murray when he collided with a post when scoring a try, said Earls and Cronin will be in the reckoning for Saturday's trip to Saracens.
“We will need to see where other fellas are. At the moment we have shipped a lot of injuries this year. We want to make sure we have the best 23 going out next week. Conor Murray got a bang on the neck on the way to scoring the try but he got back out there and went again and he is okay.”
Ian Keatley led the way in the opening half and CJ Stander stood out in a dominant pack as they wrapped up the issue by half-time by opening up a 24-0 lead.
Keatley set up Felix Jones for the opening try which pushed them 10-0 ahead and they never looked back. Stander got the second from a tap and go free-kick and then Murray barged over to leave it 24-0 at the break.
Murray went off when he was injured but returned at the start of the second half when Simon Zebo wrapped up the bonus point shortly after a good chip from Ronan O'Mahony in a counter-attack.
There was a consolation try for Zebre when replacement loosehead Oliviero Fabiani scored as Munster, who failed to score in the second half of their away losses to Glasgow and Connacht, faltered again after the break.
“It is something that we need to look into, the second half. But in fairness to Zebre they came out in the second half and for four or five minutes we didn’t touch the ball. It was good for them and provided an excellent contest for us.
“But I’m happy with the result, happy with the five points, getting the bonus point against the run of play in the second half. But I thought we did enough in the first half to warrant a result. We have come away relatively unscathed in terms of injuries. It is good to get back on the winning ways.
“We wanted to build the game on pace and momentum and we achieved that. We were fortunate enough to get a couple of good scores and maintain momentum on the game. Unfortunately we didn’t do that in the second half and it became a dour affair to be honest. But it is a win, it is a result and it is something that we will take.”
He will now turn his attentions to the Champions Cup with Saracens away on Saturday and then, he hopes, a clash with Sale Sharks at Thomond Park with qualification hanging on it but Foley said he isn’t looking beyond next weekend.
“We are not looking at two weeks. We are looking at Saracens, it is going to be a huge game for us and it is important that we are going over there in the right frame of mind and give ourselves a chance.”
Scorers
Zebre: Try: O Fabiani, Con: L Orquera
Munster: Tries: F Jones, CJ Stander, C Murray, S Zebo, Cons: I Keatley (4), Pens: I Keatley
Zebre: D Odiete; G Venditti, T Iannone, K Haimona, L Sarto; E Padovani, B Leonard; A de Marchi, A Manici, L Redolfini; Q Geldenhuys, M Bortolami (capt); F Cristiano, Mauro Bergamasco, A van Schalkwyk.
Replacements: O Fabiani for Manici (23 mins), G Palazzani for Venditti (40), L Orquera for Padovani (40 - 43), Mirco Bergamasco for Orquera (43), V Bernabò for Mauro Bergamasco (52), J Sarto for Cristiano (52), D Chistolini for Redolfini (54), Orquera for Haimona (55), L Leibson for de Marchi (66)
Munster: F Jones; R O'Mahony, P Howard, JJ Hanrahan, S Zebo; I Keatley, C Murray; E Guinazu, K O'Byrne, S Archer; D Foley, B Holland; Dave O'Callaghan, P O'Mahony (capt), CJ Stander.
Replacements: D Williams for Murray (32 – 40 mins), N Scannell for O'Byrne (48), J Cronin for Guinazu (48), K Earls for R O'Mahony (52), Williams for Murray (57), Donncha O'Callaghan for Foley (61), P Butler for P O'Mahony (66), J Murphy for Keatley (69).
Referee: Ian Davies (WRU)
