Munster waiting to discover extent of Joey Carbery's wrist injury

The fly-half suffered the knock in last Sunday’s BKT URC draw at Benetton with academy playmaker Tony Butler poised to make his league debut against Dragon on Saturday.

WRIST INJURY: Munster’s Joey Carbery tackled by Malakai Fekitoa of Benetton. Pic Credit ©INPHO/Luca Sighinolfi

Munster are waiting to learn the extent of the wrist injury sustained by fly-half Joey Carbery in last Sunday’s BKT URC draw at Benetton with academy playmaker Tony Butler poised to make his league debut against Dragon in Cork on Saturday.

Carbery, set to turn 28 on Wednesday, has started the first two games of the season in the Munster number 10 jersey, as the 2022-23 champions got their URC title defence up and running with a home win over the Sharks and that 13-13 draw in Treviso at the weekend.

But the fly-half’s setback, early in the second half at Stadio Mongio, has brought back echoes of his injury travails in 2019 when ankle and wrist problems restricted him to just two appearances before a return to action in 2021.

An elbow injury the following season kept Carbery out for four months but the former Leinster man enjoyed an extended run in the team over the past two seasons, only to lose the starting jersey and, subsequently his Ireland squad place, to rising star Jack Crowley.

Munster attack coach Mike Prendergast on Tuesday said he was hoping for a positive outcome from the results of a scan Carbery had undergone.

“We don't actually have a final result on that yet,” Prendergast said. "He's going for a scan. He got a bang on it, he felt a bit of pain, he got through it, but the day after it got worse and worse.

"Hopefully it will be good news but he could be a doubt for this weekend. If he doesn't make it, we'll be prepared as well. We don't have a long turnaround after getting back from Italy on Sunday.

"Jack Crowley is still away, we have Rory Scannell and Tony Butler who can come in.

"It would be (tough on Carbery), but in terms of how he approached the season, it was a tough end to the last one but he had a really, really good pre-season and came back bouncing.

"He was a massive part of us getting the two points in Italy and hopefully it's not serious."

Munster will definitely be without loosehead prop Josh Wycherley, who was a late withdrawal from the starting front row in northern Italy last Sunday with a neck injury, while hooker Niall Scannell and wing Andrew Conway remain unavailable due to injury.

Scrum-half Craig Casey is the first of Munster’s Ireland World Cup contingent to return to training with his province and could play a part in Saturday’s clash at Musgrave Park as the home side seeks to avenge their early-season defeat at the Dragons in South Wales.