Munster rocked by injury to another key man as they gear up for Leinster visit

Munster have been dealt another big injury blow with the news that Alex Nankivell is set for several weeks on the sidelines.

The influential centre picked up a hamstring injury in the narrow URC victory over Ulster at Kingspan Stadium last Friday night.

The province are awaiting the results of a scan that Nankivell had today but it is expected to rule him out of the meeting with Leinster at Thomond Park on Friday, and also more than likely out of the Reds' must-win final Champions Cup pool games in January.

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It has been a season of injury disruption so far for Munster and this development comes after a trio of top names in Craig Casey, Jean Kleyn and Thaakir Abrahams all went under the knife last week, and with long rehabs ahead.

Furthermore, prop Dave Kilcoyne and hooker Scott Buckley have picked up thigh and calf injuries respectively. However, loosehead prop Dian Bleuler could be available as he completes his return to play protocols, while Peter O'Mahony, Diarmuid Barron and Conor Murray could all yet feature against Leinster after recent injury issues.

"It's very disappointing," said Denis Leamy. "And, look, it seems like we've had more than our fair share of injuries over the last year to 18 months. But it's nothing that we're not used to and we've been in this position before.

Munster’s Peter O’Mahony
(Image: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan)

"It's very disappointing for the boys, but we have a very good medical team, we have a really good S&C team and hopefully we'll get them back on the track as quickly as we can. But it's next man up and on we go, and, we got to show some sort of resilience around us."

Kilcoyne has only recently returned after a 11-month lay-off and defence coach Leamy described his situation as "cruel", before adding: "That’s the nature of the game, unfortunately. He's put in a huge amount of work to get back on the field, and then suddenly you're faced with that again.

"And it's really, really disappointing, but we just try to keep the morale levels of the boys up and look, they're great lads. They deal with their disappointment. They get their heads down. They start working again.

"It's not ideal. It's far from ideal, but, look, that's the hand we've been dealt, and there's a lot of work being done in the background to try and make us better and to try and prevent these sorts of things happening again."

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