Fineen Wycherley back fit and available for Munster after injury

Munster will welcome back a fit-again Fineen Wycherley with a sigh of relief for this Saturday’s trip to Italy to face Benetton just as Tadhg Beirne leaves for Ireland camp

FIT AND AVAILABLE: Munster's Fineen Wycherley is back fit after a shoulder injury kept him sidelined since October. Pic: INPHO/Ben Brady

Munster will welcome back a fit-again Fineen Wycherley with a sigh of relief for this Saturday’s trip to Italy to face Benetton as they say goodbye to Ireland star Tadhg Beirne for the duration of the Guinness Six Nations.

Beirne is one of eight Munster players who linked up with Ireland boss Andy Farrell on Tuesday for the start of preparations for the championship opener against Wales in Cardiff in 11 days.

The Lions lock, Craig Casey, Gavin Coombes, Jack Crowley, Keith Earls, Dave Kilcoyne, Conor Murray and captain Peter O’Mahony will all be unavailable for their province in Treviso this weekend, though Scotland new boy Ben Healy is expected to return from his first Test squad involvement in Edinburgh in time for the trip.

It looks less likely that Mike Haley will be involved, however, following his ankle injury in Toulouse on Sunday with the full-back due to go for a scan this week while wing Simon Zebo is also ruled out due to illness.

Fineen Wycherley’s return to training following a shoulder injury that sidelined the 25-year-old lock since early October was on Tuesday welcomed by forwards coach Andi Kyriacou as the spate of injuries that has struck his second-row resources finally shows signs of easing, albeit with Beirne now absent.

Munster are still without Tom Ahern (shoulder), Paddy Kelly (head), Kiran McDonald (arm) and RG Snyman (knee) and have been relying heavily on senior locks Jean Kleyn and Beirne to shoulder the second-row burden in recent weeks.

“It's been great to finally give him the all clear to be involved,” Kyriacou said of Wycherley. “He's been in and out of certain aspects of training over the past couple of weeks, but a real lift with the lads going up the road to camp, and also the 'giraffe sanctuary' in the medical room, all of these two-metre high lads rehabbing.

“We're ecstatic to have Fin back and ready to play. He's ready to go.” 

Munster have veteran tighthead prop John Ryan available for the final time this Saturday before his three-month stint as a short-term injury-cover signing comes to an end and he moves to New Zealand for the 2023 Super Rugby season.

“John is about this weekend and then he’s off to the Chiefs,” Kyriacou said. “We’re obviously disappointed to see him go but he’s had to do what’s right for him and look, he’s been excellent since he’s come back from Wasps.

“He’s added real value, not just in his performances but the way he’s approached things with younger players in the squad, just passing on all his knowledge, live within sessions and also after via video.

“He’s been great to have back in the building and we just wish him well for the next few months.” 

Roman Salanoa and Stephen Archer look set to fill the breach with Keynan Knox nearing a recovery from the knee injury that has kept him out since November, Kyriacou said.

“Knoxy has been on the field, doing bits and pieces in and around what the physio and rehab lads are deeming the right bits for him to do in terms of his rehab and progression back into playing. He's doing more and more each day, so I'd imagine it will be very soon that we see him available and ready to play.” 

The forwards coach added that though the internationals were now absent for the next eight weeks, during which time Munster will also play home BKT URC games against Ospreys at Thomond Park on February 17 and Scarlets in Cork on March 3, there could be no drop off in work ethic or the rate of progress made in recent months from those players that remained at the province.

“Our performances have mirrored the amount of work we've been putting in away from matchday in training. We're seeing improvement week on week around a lot of aspects of our game, and we don't, at any point, envisage us dropping away.

“It's the standards we're setting ourselves week to week and day to day, and it doesn't matter what players are available. They live by those standards and that's what we're all driving.”