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.

Flannery will today have a scan to assess the extent of knee ligament damage he sustained in Saturday’s international victory over Argentina.

Another to miss out on next weekend will be David Wallace but the news on the flanker is not as serious. Having damaged his neck in Saturday’s game, Wallace was brought to hospital for X-rays but quickly rejoined his Irish colleagues after being given the all clear.

It has been now described as a soft tissue injury that will require about a week of rest.

Further good news for Munster is that Denis Leamy and Frankie Sheahan, also injured against the All Blacks, should be fully recovered in time for the Heineken Cup clash.