Conor Murray may miss Reds’ big Toulouse battle

Conor Murray remains a doubt for Munster’s Champions Cup quarter-final with Toulouse on April 1 with the province uncertain how quickly the scrum-half will recover from the shoulder injury suffered on Ireland duty.

On a day when Munster revealed both All Blacks centre Francis Saili and Ireland fly-half Ian Keatley will miss the European showdown at Thomond Park in 11 days through injury and locks Jean Kleyn and Dave Foley were ruled out for the rest of the season, director of rugby Rassie Erasmus yesterday also expressed his concern that key figure Murray, 27, could join the casualty list.

The scrum-half, who was yesterday named with Munster and Ireland team-mate CJ Stander among 12 nominees for the 2017 RBS 6 Nations Player of the Championship award, missed last Saturday’s final-round clash with England due to a stinger in his left shoulder suffered during the previous week’s loss to Wales.