MUNSTER WING KEITH Earls suffered a hamstring injury during last weekend’s defeat to the Dragons in the URC and is set to miss out on this Saturday’s clash with Zebre.
The 34-year-old was replaced 13 minutes into Munster’s loss in Wales on Sunday and the province say he will be further assessed by their medical team this week.
There are also doubts over captain Peter O’Mahony and second row Jean Kleyn ahead of the Zebre clash.
O’Mahony suffered an ankle issue against the Dragons but did manage to complete the game. Munster say he is expected to return to training later this week and they will hope to have him fit to face Zebre in Cork.
Kleyn sustained a concussion against the Dragons and is now undergoing the return-to-play protocols.
Meanwhile, South African second row RG Snyman remains on Munster’s longer-term injury list almost a year on from re-rupturing the ACL in his left knee.
Back in July, Munster confirmed that Springboks lock Snyman was reintegrating into team training as the province’s pre-season programme got underway.
However, The42 understands that Snyman may have subsequently had a setback with his recovery.
In August, Munster confirmed that the second row would not be available for the opening rounds of the season, without specifying how many games he would miss.
“I’m not going to give you a date, I can’t give you a date,” said Munster boss Graham Rowntree in August when asked about the timeframe for Snyman’s recovery.
“Not initially, put it that way. We are not… I am not going to rush RG Snyman back but he won’t be available to us initially.”
The 27-year-old has not been training with the rest of the Munster team in more recent weeks and is listed among their longer-term injuries in team updates.
It now appears that Snyman could miss the entire first block of seven URC games before the autumn Test window in November.
Munster fans are very hopeful that Snyman can make a successful, impactful return to action for the province after this second rupture of his ACL.
Having joined back in 2020, Snyman suffered his first knee injury just minutes into his debut against Leinster. He returned from that injury in September 2021 but only made three appearances off the bench before cruelly re-rupturing his ACL.
In January of this year, Munster announced that they had extended Snyman’s contract for another two seasons through to the summer of 2024.
While there is still some uncertainty regarding his return to action, Munster fans will be excited about the prospect of getting a player who has been at a world-class level in the past back onto the pitch.
