Search
01 Dec 2025
Search
01 Dec 2025
Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.
Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.
If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter .
Support our mission and join our community now.
To continue reading this article, you can subscribe for as little as €0.50 per week which will also give you access to all of our premium content and archived articles!
Alternatively, you can pay €0.50 per article, capped at €1 per day.
Thank you for supporting Ireland's best local journalism!
Munster's Jack O'Donoghue departs the field I PICTURE: Sportsfile
MUNSTER have confirmed that Jack O’Donoghue failed a HIA on Saturday night during the URC defeat to The Stormers and will enter the return-to-play protocols.
O'Donoghue misses Saturday’s Investec Champions Cup Pool 2 opener against Bath at The Rec.
Elsewhere in player news, Munster have confirmed that Michael Ala’alatoa has joined his new team-mates at the High Performance Centre in UL after signing from Clermont Auvergne until the end of the season.
Saturday will be Munster’s first competitive game against Bath since October 2000.
It is the first game of a Champions Cup double-header with Munster hosting Gloucester at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday, December 13, with over 33,500 tickets already sold.
READ MORE: Munster Rugby coach Clayton McMillan reflects on 'disappointing' URC defeat to Stormers
The weekend, Munster saw their unbeaten start to the URC season abruptly ended by the South African side 27-21 in front of an official attendance of 14,421 at Thomond Park.
It looked as though Munster were going to capitalise on home advantage when they led the top-of-the-table clash 21-6 at half-time after running in three tries. But the Stormers racked up 21 unanswered points after the break to secure a famous win.
Munster Rugby captain Tadhg Beirne admitted the side would have to learn lessons quickly from Saturday night's game in which the Stormers were aided by a powerful scrum which had the home side under a lot of pressure. Bath are likely to provide a similar challenge to that posed by the Stormers.
Beirne said: “We've no choice but to learn the lessons quickly. You know, we know how tough Europe is. We have to take a massive step forward to compete next week because we know that wasn't good enough today particularly that second half.
“It was nowhere near good enough, so we'll have a bit of an uphill battle to sort ourselves out before next week, but as you said, it's happened now so now we have to learn from it quickly and write those wrongs.”
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.
This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.
