Bill Johnston will be eased back gently to centre stage

Bill Johnston made an eagerly anticipated return to rugby last Friday when he featured for Garryowen against Young Munster but the gifted out-half is to be eased back into the provincial and international arenas.

The Clonmel man was still only 18 when he played three pre-season games for the Munster senior side in August of 2015 but a rotten run of shoulder injuries has stalled his progress since.

It was an ankle injury sustained away to Rotherham in the B&I Cup in December that caused him to miss out on the latest Ireland U20 squad named by Nigel Carolan for the opening two rounds of the latest Six Nations.