Cullen seeks second opinion on injury setback

Munster's Christian Cullen will receive a second medical opinion on his injured shoulder before any decision is taken on what rehabilitation is needed.

Cullen suffered a shoulder injury in the latter stages of the New Zealand NPC final against Auckland a couple of weeks ago but Munster coach Alan Gaffney doesn’t expect his star signing to be out of action for very long.

“We knew that Christian was carrying an injury when he came over and we wouldn’t have named him in our squad for Europe unless we were confident he will have recovered in time,” said Gaffney.

“Christian will see another medical expert next week and we will decide from there what the best course of action is.

“Christian is from the old school in that he would be quite willing to play while carrying an injury but we have to protect the welfare of the player above all else.

Cullen joins a long list of Munster players on the injured list, including Alan Quinlan, Denis Leamy, Mike Prendergast and Rob Henderson.

“It’s a bit like a hospital ward at the minute but we have Eddie Halvey back this week and I don’t expect Christian to be out of action for too long. That is why he is part of our European plans.

“Ronan O’Gara made the point last night that we have Christian for three seasons and we have to plan for that and make sure that he is 100% because a fully-fit Christian Cullen is in Munster’s best interests,” Gaffney added.

Cullen is likely to miss Munster’s opening Heineken Cup game against Bourgoin and could struggle for the subsequent games against Treviso on December 13 and Gloucester on January 10.

“As I said, we won’t know what is needed or how long Christian will be out for until we get a second opinion next week but I am hopeful that he will be available sooner rather than later.

“The worst case scenario is that he will need surgery, but if that is the case it will be a matter of keyhole surgery and not a full operation so even if he misses the opening matches I would be confident of having him available for the latter stages of the Heineken Cup group campaign,” Gaffney added.