MUNSTER HAVE CONFIRMED that in-form fullback Mike Haley will undergo a scan to assess the ankle injury he picked up in Sunday’s 20-16 defeat to Toulouse, while lock Fineen Wycherley is fit and available for selection having recovered from the shoulder injury which has kept him sidelined since October.
Haley, unfortunate to miss out on Six Nations selection on account of his career-best provincial form this season, injured his ankle in the 27th minute at Stade Ernest-Wallon and was replaced by Malakai Fekitoa, with Jack Crowley shifting from inside centre to fullback.
While Munster await a prognosis on Haley, there is positive news in the shape of Wycherley’s return in the second row, where the southern province have been left threadbare in recent weeks.
“It’s been great to finally give him the all clear to be involved,” Munster forwards coach Andi Kyriacou said of the 25-year-old Coomhola man. “He’s been in and out of certain aspects of training over the past couple of weeks, but [his return has given us] a real lift with the lads going up the road to camp, and also the ‘giraffe sanctuary’ in the medical room: all of these two-metre high lads rehabbing…
“We’re ecstatic to have Fin back and ready to play. He’s ready to go.”
Kyriacou also confirmed that prop Keynan Knox will be back available for selection “very soon”, but in the meantime, Munster must bid farewell to his fellow tighthead, John Ryan, for whom Saturday’s URC trip to Benetton will prove the final game of his temporary return to his native province.
“Yeah, John is about this weekend and then he’s off to the Chiefs,” Kyriacou confirmed. “We’re obviously disappointed to see him go but he’s had to do what’s right for him and look, he’s been excellent since he’s come back from Wasps.
He’s added real value, not just in his performances but the way he’s approached things with younger players in the squad, just passing on all his knowledge — live within sessions and also after, via video.
“He’s been great to have back in the building and yeah, we just wish him well for the next few months.”
Simon Zebo is unavailable this week due to illness, while tighthead James French is this week rehabbing a lower-leg injury.
There were no further updates on Jeremy Loughman (thigh), Tom Ahern (shoulder), RG Snyman (knee), Paddy Kelly (head), Jack Daly (knee), Andrew Conway (knee), or Kiran McDonald (arm).
Both Ben Healy and Joey Carbery will be available to Munster for their trip to Treviso, while eight senior players will remain with Ireland as Andy Farrell’s side prepare for their Six Nations opener with Wales the following weekend.
As such, Graham Rowntree will once more turn to a number of his up-and-comers but Kyriacou is confident that many of Munster’s younger crop will be far better primed for duty in Italy than they were during the early parts of this season.
“Now we’re at this point, we’re looking back at the early stage of the season and thinking how lucky we were. We had the [international] lads recovering from the summer tour initially, Emerging Ireland, injuries, so we were dealt a hand where lads were given a lot of exposure potentially a bit earlier than they, and us, thought it would come.
“That’s put us in a really strong position now. They’ve had the exposure, been put to the test against experienced opposition, and now we’re in that stage of the season where we’ve lost the international lads again and are backing the lads to come in and perform again.”
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