PROMISING BACK ROWER Brian Gleeson looks set to give Munster a timely boost as they head to Belfast hoping to get back on track after their loss to Leinster at the weekend.

The 21-year-old Tipperary native has recovered from a fractured elbow picked up in October in the win over Leinster at Croke Park.

That injury robbed Gleeson of the chance of travelling to Chicago having been added to the wider training group by Andy Farrell for the clash with the All Blacks in the Windy City.

Now Gleeson, who has made 23 appearances since his debut over the Sharks in October 2023, is back in the reckoning for the clash with Ulster but winger Calvin Nash, a late withdrawal through illness for Saturday’s clash with Leinster, might not be back.

“Brian is somebody that’s back into the equation and we’ll just see how he’s tracking over the next couple of days and make a decision on that then,” said defence coach Denis Leamy.

“Yes, Gleeson trained today and we’re hoping that he’ll be in the mix. Calvin, we’re still not sure about him. He wasn’t around today. So we’ll just keep an eye on how that one’s progressing.”

Leamy said the return of former Irish U-20 skipper Gleeson, said it was a good boost to have his fellow Tipp man back in action.

“Yes, it is. It’s frustrating when young players get injured because they have these windows of opportunity to play and to progress and to reach their full potential.

“So when guys like Brian and Edwin Edogbo, for example, have been out for a long time, it just robs them of time to develop and hit their ceiling. So as young players, you want them to be fit as much as possible and just to absorb all the information they’re getting, absorb the game time and really fast-track them to get to where their potential may lie.

“Unfortunately, when guys get injured, that just slows down that progress.”

Munster may be without some of their internationals for the trip to east Belfast but Leamy was remaining coy on that one.

“Yeah, we’ll just have to discuss that there in the next while. But yeah, there’s definitely guys that have to come under that IRFU guideline. So we’ll just discuss that in the next while but certainly the Irish internationals, they need to get their time off at some stage and this week could be a possibility to fit that in.”

Munster have Toulon away and Castres at home to come in the following weekends in the Champions Cup after their second Irish derby in seven days and Leamy said the squad needs to be well managed during this hectic spell.

“It’s always the toughest part of the year, really. You’ve got the interpros and then you’ve got Europe either side. It always puts your squad under pressure and always pressures you in terms of results and stuff like that.

“So the last couple of years’ learnings that we’ve had is that this is a real tough part of the season. It’s a real slog and you have to just go from week to week and dog it out.”