Rassie Erasmus calls Glasgow loss the 'worst' of his Munster tenure

As if presiding over a performance Rassie Erasmus yesterday described as the “worst” of his Munster tenure was not painful enough, last Friday’s heavy defeat has further depleted the province’s second-row stocks.

Already feeling the impact of Donnacha Ryan and Dave Foley leaving for France this summer and long-term injuries to Darren O’Shea, Dave O’Callaghan and new signing Gerbrandt Grobler, director of rugby Erasmus is now awaiting the results of a scan Jean Kleyn must undergo today following a bang to his neck suffered in the 37-15 Guinness PRO loss to their Conference A rivals at Scotstoun.

Erasmus speculated yesterday that the in-form Kleyn would not be absent long-term but he also faces losing former Ireland U20 lock Fineen Wycherley to a suspension after the player’s red card late in the game. Tournament officials were yesterday organising a disciplinary panel for a hearing in the next couple of days but the upshot of the further second-row losses is that new short-term signing from Saracens, Mark Flanagan, is in line for a Munster debut against Cardiff Blues at Thomond Park this Saturday (1.30pm), despite only participating in his first training session yesterday.