LEINSTER BACK ROW Jordi Murphy is set to be sidelined for the next 12 weeks having undergone surgery on a shoulder problem.
The province today said that the four-cap international endured some discomfort with the issue during the closing stages of last season.
Murphy played a fringe role during Ireland’s Six Nations success earlier this year and, despite the return of Sean O’Brien, was expected to again be part of Joe Schmidt’s squad.
The news of his three-month recovery period however, ends his chances of playing for Ireland in the Tests against South Africa, Georgia and Australia on November 8, 16 and 22.
Providing his rehabilitation from surgery is a success, he should be back in good time for Leinster’s back-to-back Champions Cup fixtures against Harlequins in December.
Leinster’s injury report today also ruled out flanker Dan Leavy, saying he suffered a ‘medial strain’ to his knee ligaments in the weekend loss to Ulster and expect him to be out of action for up to eight weeks.
Meanwhile, Connacht will be without seven players for their opening Pro12 fixture at home to the Dragons with Mils Muliaina among that group as he continues to recover from an elbow injury.
Good news
New signing Shane O’leary will also miss out in week one as the 21-year-old centre is suffering from a quad injury. Pending assessment, he could be available again in time for the round two trip to Edinburgh.
Tiernan O’Halloran (knee), Andrew Browne (knee), Jason Harris-Wright (shoulder), Mata Fifita (shoulder) and Matt Healy (fractured hand) complete the injured party.
However, there’s good news too with captain John Muldoon, Aly Muldowney and Ronan Loughney all returning to full training this week. The trio are likely to feature in Pat Lam’s plans on Saturday afternoon.