Mark Chisholm blow adds to Munster injury woes as Tyler Bleyendaal improves

Munster’s Australian second-row forward Mark Chisholm faces a spell on the sidelines after suffering a concussion in Saturday’s Guinness Pro12 win over the Dragons.

Munster head coach Anthony Foley revealed the 34-year-old failed the Head Injury Assessment test and was automatically ruled out of the second half after sustaining a knock to the head before the break.

Chisholm has been quietly but effectively turning the invaluable experience of a 58 times capped Wallaby to considerable use in the red jersey.

Given that the coming weeks are crucial to the immediate future of the province in both the Guinness Pro12 and in qualification for next season’s European Champions Cup, his injury could not have come at a worse time.

Foley reported that New Zealander Tyler Bleyendaal has returned to training after an injury lay-off but is still at least a month away from competitive action.

“We’re trying to build up the strength in his leg”, said Foley. “Andrew Conway limped off against the Dragons and the next 48 hours will tell about him and the various other knocks and bruises.”

Most Pro12 teams now have a fortnight or so off but that doesn’t apply to Munster with Foley anxious that they should get down to the business of getting ready for the visit to Cardiff Blues on their 4G pitch at the Arms Park on Friday week.

“We want to refocus and also to recharge some of the bodies to make sure we’re properly prepared.”

Munster are 5th on the back of wins over Treviso and Dragons with the game in hand against the Blues now to the front of their minds.

But Foley warned: “You’d prefer to have points on the board rather than games in hand. Cardiff have taken a lot of scalps over there this year. 4G is not a surface we’re used to playing on but we’ve played on it against Glasgow in Kilmarnock.”

Saturday’s win over the Dragons was notable for two tries by loose head prop Dave Kilcoyne, the second time he has done the double in three weeks. It’s little wonder, then, that he’d prefer to skip this week’s break.

“I want to be playing 80 minutes every week”, he stated. “Axel has had a word with us ... this will be a tough week, we’ll be doing S & C stuff. We don’t have the luxury of a week off. Every game is a must win. These margins are very close.

“Connacht played really well against Edinburgh and are on a real high streak at the moment and we’re chasing them. Our fixtures to come include Connacht and Leinster and that’s another reason why we don’t have the luxury of this week off.

“Cardiff play an expansive game, they throw it around and unless you dig in over there, you’re not going to get the result you want. And we won’t be blaming the surface, it certainly makes no difference to front-rows”.