MUNSTER SAY JOEY Carbery will rehab an ankle injury as he returns to the province after the World Cup.
The 23-year-old will join the rest of Munster’s Ireland international contingent in reintegrating with the province next week but he is now a doubt for the opening rounds of the Heineken Champions Cup in November due to his ankle issue.
Carbery originally suffered the ankle injury back in August during Ireland’s World Cup warm-up clash with Italy and underwent a procedure at that time.
Joe Schmidt included Carbery in his 31-man squad for Japan and he made his comeback for Ireland at the World Cup, playing in three of their games, including the quarter-final defeat to New Zealand two weekends ago.
However, Carbery will return to Munster carrying the ankle injury and the province say he is “set to rehab an ankle injury that he was managing throughout the World Cup.”
It will be a frustration for head coach Johann van Graan and his coaching staff to have a player return from the World Cup with an injury, although they have other out-half options including JJ Hanrahan and Tyler Bleyendaal.
Carbery made his return on the pitch for Ireland in their shock pool-stage defeat to Japan, before also coming off the bench against Samoa and then featuring as a replacement in the heavy defeat to New Zealand.
He will be keen to recover from his ankle injury as swiftly as possible as he looks into his second season with Munster.
Carbery will also be eager to get back onto the pitch in order to impress new Ireland boss Andy Farrell, who takes over from Joe Schmidt.