MUNSTER HAVE CONFIRMED that scrum-half Craig Casey will undergo surgery on a meniscus injury suffered during the province’s Champions Cup defeat to Castres on Friday night.

Wing Thaakir Abrahams will undergo scans this week to determine whether he’ll also require surgery on his dislocated shoulder.

There is also a fresh injury concern for lock Jean Kleyn, who will see a specialist this week in relation to a thigh issue.

Kleyn will almost certainly miss Friday night’s URC trip to Ulster, while loosehead Dian Bleuler has been definitively ruled out of that interpro having failed a HIA following his withdrawal in Castres.

The glass-half-full interpretation of Casey’s injury is that the recovery time following meniscus surgery can sometimes be as short as two months. A rehab period anywhere in that ballpark would be better than Munster and the player himself had anticipated when Casey was carried from the field at Stade Pierre Fabre.

Fellow scrum-half Conor Murray, meanwhile, remains unavailable this week with an elbow issue, meaning Paddy Patterson will likely start against Ulster.

For Abrahams, shoulder surgery would all but end his season but if scans were to determine that the South African flier could avoid the knife, an absence of three to four months would be more likely.

On the plus side for Munster, Peter O’Mahony has not been definitively ruled out of Friday’s encounter at Kingspan Stadium. The Ireland back row suffered only an impact injury on his calf and his availability will be determined later in the week.

The same applies to hooker Diarmuid Barron, who passed his HIA and whose separate shoulder issue will be monitored in Limerick this week.

Munster have also confirmed that outside back Liam Coombes underwent surgery last week on a chest-muscle injury he suffered in action for Garryowen earlier this month.

There are no further updates on Seán O’Brien (leg), Diarmuid Kilgallen (wrist), Jeremy Loughman (hip), Josh Wycherley (neck), Mark Donnelly (ankle), Patrick Campbell (shoulder), Cian Hurley (knee), Edwin Edogbo (Achilles), Roman Salanoa (knee).