Munster rocked by Tipoki injury blow

MUNSTER’S Rua Tipoki looks set to be ruled out until the new year with the knee injury he suffered in last Tuesday’s narrow defeat to New Zealand.

The prognosis is that Tipoki’s injury is worse than initially feared, and could rule the former New Zealand Maori skipper out of Munster’s Heineken Cup back-to-back assignments against Clermont Auvergne before Christmas.

Tipoki is definitely out of this weekend’s Magners League trip to Wales to face the Scarlets, a game hooker Jerry Flannery will also certainly miss.