Murray Kinsella reports from the Aviva Stadium
RASSIE ERASMUS INSISTED that scrum-half Conor Murray has not had a setback with his recovery from a shoulder/neck injury but said it’s “impossible” to provide clarity on when Munster expect him to return to action.
With Murray missing for tomorrow’s Champions Cup semi-final against Saracens in Dublin, Duncan Williams will start in the nine jersey but Erasmus has opted against naming a recognised scrum-half on the bench.
Ian Keatley will instead provide scrum-half cover among the replacements.
Speaking on Wednesday after naming Murray in his Lions squad, Warren Gatland said that the scrum-half had suffered a setback and stated that he has concerns over whether Murray will be ready to tour with the Lions.
When that comment was put to Erasmus after Munster’s captain’s run at the Aviva Stadium this evening, he stressed that there was no specific aggravation or worsening of Murray’s nerve problem.
No, there was no setback, the setback is that it is taking so long,” said Erasmus. “That’s the setback, no specific incident happened.
“I guess he meant the setback is that in the beginning it was one week, whereas now we are in week six or seven already. The setback is the amount of time it is taking to heal.”
The situation is frustrating for Munster and Murray, while Gatland has said the scrum-half likely needs to play for his province before the Lions leave for New Zealand if he is to be brought on tour.
Right now, Munster don’t know when Murray will be fit to play again.
“It’s the same as the previous six weeks,” said Erasmus. “He has some nerve damage there. Some guys take a week and some guys, as you see now, it takes six or seven weeks.
“In his case, it could be eight or nine weeks, it is really hard to say how quickly the nerve may heal. It is frustrating for him and for us but unfortunately he is not ready for us.
“For me, it is impossible to say when he will be back. Until he has all his strength and power back, with no pain any more, then he will be able to play. Hopefully he can get a few games in before the Lions series, we would have hoped he would have got a lot of games in before now. But unfortunately not.”
Rather than putting one of his inexperienced scrum-halves, Abrie Griesel or Angus Lloyd, on the bench behind Williams, Erasmus said Munster are “taking a bit of a risk with Ian Keatley on the bench.”
Ireland international out-half Keatley will slot in at scrum-half in attack if Williams gets injured, while the defensive duties are to be shared among the team.
“We’ve trained with Ian Keatley covering nine in certain positions and then on defence, we will try to do other things,” said Erasmus when asked to explain the decision not to carry a reserve scrum-half.
“We just think that in this game, experience is going to be important and big-match temperament is going to be important, so that’s why we made that decision.”
“Our policy is pretty simple,” said Erasmus of that call. “If you didn’t make most of the training sessions, then when anybody else is close to you, you start with the player that trained the whole week.
“Obviously, Sweets had to come through the HIA testing and he didn’t make all the training sessions. Andrew has been playing there and trained the whole week. That’s basically it.”
As for the decision to select loan signing Jean Deysel on the bench as back row cover ahead of Ireland international Jack O’Donoghue, Erasmus indicated that the South African covers more positions and brings a certain type of impact.
“I think if CJ weren’t fit, Jack would have maybe slotted straight into the starting spot and Jean would have stayed on the bench. Then CJ came through the week.
“We’re just looking for a specific type of impact player and Jean is covering two or three positions for us, eight and seven specifically and also he can do six as well. It’s just the mix up of the team and what we think we’ll need later in the game.
“Jack’s really unlucky not to make this team, he’s had an excellent season.”
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