Coach Johann van Graan willing to wait on Alby Mathewson

Johann van Graan has backed fit scrum-halves Duncan Williams and Jack Stafford to lead Munster into the lion’s den at Exeter Chiefs on Saturday as he waits for positive news on All Black Alby Mathewson.

Munster’s already tricky assignment at the home of the English heavyweights in Sandy Park has been made doubly difficult by the lack of options at number nine after New Zealander Mathewson pulled up with a knee injury in the 30-22 PRO14 loss at Leinster on Saturday night.

Mathewson, 32, underwent a scan yesterday to determine the extent of the injury and head coach van Graan is prepared to wait as long as he possibly can for the former Toulon star to prove his fitness before admitting defeat.

Yet, if he fails to make the plane to England’s south-west, and with Conor Murray, the man whose injury absence he was signed to cover also on the injury list, van Graan hopes that Williams’ experience and academy scrum-half Stafford’s potential can negotiate a powerful team with six wins from six in the Premiership so far this season.

“We’ll wait and see what’s going to happen there,” van Graan said yesterday of Mathewson’s impending scan. “Unfortunately, on the injury list currently we’ve got Conor, we’ve got James Hart, Neil Cronin.

“Duncan’s been there on multiple occasions, a very experienced nine and then we’ve got Jack Stafford who’s been going really well for the A team.

Jack is a young player that’s been waiting for an opportunity and we’ll how things pan out. It might be an opportunity in Europe this week and again, that’s the beauty of sport. You can’t plan for these things and if they happen then the next guy in has got to take his opportunity and who knows what might happen.

The Munster head coach will stay patient for Mathewson and not impose a cut-off by which the Kiwi must past fit. “In a perfect world, you would want a guy to train on a Tuesday, not only on a Thursday, but at certain stages when you see what you have. There is no hard and fast rules with these things, let’s see what the scan says first. If he is out, then obviously he is out, if it is 50-50 I am going to give him as long as I can to recover.”