Munster scrum-half Neil Cronin set for long injury lay-off

Neil Cronin: Set for a spell on the sidelines. Picture: Ben Evans/Sportsfile

Munster scrum-half Neil Cronin is facing a long lay-off following a serious knee injury sustained in training last week, Johann van Graan has confirmed.

The Munster head coach, who will lose a fit-again Conor Murray to Ireland until early December, said Cronin’s injury appeared to be similar to the one suffered by new signing RG Snyman on the South African’s debut against Leinster on August 22. 

The scrum-half, 27, had seen a specialist last week and van Graan said: “It’s not good. He’s going to get one more opinion but it looks like he’s done his ACL and that looks similar to RG, a six to nine-month injury.

“Pretty serious, which leaves us pretty thin at nine. Very sad for him, he worked so hard during lockdown and was in the best shape of his life so unfortunately those long-term injuries are ones that hurt guys, out for a long time. We’ll just look after him in the meanwhile and hopefully he’ll be back sometime in the next year.” 

Murray had returned from a month out with a thigh injury on Saturday, coming off the bench to replace man of the match Craig Casey and helping to secure a 25-23 PRO14 victory over Edinburgh at Thomond Park which saw back-rower Tommy O’Donnell withdrawn on 30 minutes for a Head Injury Assessment which was subsequently failed, requiring the flanker to go through the mandatory return to play protocols.

Munster also have two senior players with Covid-19, of whom van Graan said: “The lads that have tested positive are doing well. We’re monitoring them each day, I’m in contact with each of them and they’re doing fine. Our medical team are looking after them.” 

Munster next play on Monday, October 26, when Cardiff Blues visit Limerick.

“It’s been a pretty tough few weeks and we’ve got to make sure the guys in isolation recover, the guys with positive cases recover and then take the next steps for a big block of 12 or 14 games in a row.”