Munster hopeful Earls can return for new year cup games

Munster are holding out hope that Lions winger Keith Earls will be available for their final Champions Cup pool games in the new year, putting him in line for a late run into Ireland’s Six Nations reckoning.

As the province prepare to welcome back their international contingent this week in the hope some of the Ireland squad who completed a victorious autumn campaign will be available to face Ulster at Thomond Park in the Guinness Pro12 on Friday night, assistant coach Ian Costello said Earls could be back in the reckoning for the European rounds five and six games in January at Saracens and then home to Sale Sharks.

Earls, 27 last month, underwent surgery on his right knee on September 30. Earls is yet to play in coach Joe Schmidt’s tenure, which began in May 2013. The last of his 39 caps came in what would be Declan Kidney’s final game, a Six Nations defeat in Italy in which he dislocated his shoulder. Injuries have coincided with every Test window since but with his rehabilitation going well Costello believes a return to training in early January gives him a chance of making his seasonal debut later in the month and he will remain in Munster’s European squad.