Munster looking at short-term signing to address loosehead prop injury crisis

Further to a raft of injuries, Jeremy Loughman picked up a knee knock in the loss to the Stormers.

COVER NEEDED: Jeremy Loughman watches on during a Munster training in Cape Town. Pic: Steve Haag Sports/Inpho

Munster are looking into the possibility of signing a loosehead prop on a short-term deal to get them through an injury crisis in the position as they brace for a second searching examination in South Africa this coming weekend.

Head coach Graham Rowntree has had to do without David Kilcoyne (ankle), Josh Wycherley (neck) and Mark Donnelly (ankle) for the two URC fixtures against the Stormers and Sharks and Jeremy Loughman picked up a knee injury in the loss during the first of those ties.

Loughman was replaced on 50 minutes by Kieran Ryan who made just a fifth senior appearance while another academy prop George Hadden has now been flown out to Cape Town where the team is based this week as extra cover.

“Yeah. That's an urgent (one) to be getting on with,” said Rowntree. “We'll see how that unfolds.” 

Munster lost 34-19 to the Stormers at the DHL Stadium last Saturday on the back of a performance that threw up a number of red flags in terms of the performance and the task doesn’t seem any easier next time around in Durban.

The Sharks have long flattered to deceive in the URC but they downed Glasgow’s reigning champions at home last time out and they can count just under a dozen Springbok World Cup-winners on their squad manifesto.

“It's a huge game for us now considering what's happened in the last couple of weeks in particular. But what we can do? Get our game on the park … prepare for it. We've analyzed them. We've got some things to fix from Saturday, the Stormers game, which we've owned and we've prepared certainly very well today.

“You know, there's always a big game near enough, isn’t there? It's a big game,” said Munster’s boss on Tuesday afternoon. “It's pretty much a Springbok pack waiting for us Saturday in the heat in Durban. What gives me comfort is we've done it before.” 

Munster had issues in the scrum last week, they gave away two soft tries at the start and the end of the game, botched a pair of restarts and threw passes into touch. But if there was one failing that stood out it was at the lineout.

Eight out of 14 throws from the line does not cut it at this level. Neither does the 11 from 16 they managed the week before in their loss to Leinster at Croke Park. Rowntree has been straight up about this failing, and others.

“The lineout, there's a lot of moving parts. It's not just one thing or one person. You know, there's a lot going on. I'm not gonna throw anyone under the bus here. There's a lot of little things that we've gotta do better.

“And you know what? When you're in against teams, particularly the last two games, with good lineout defenses, and a couple of things don't go your way you get a bit panicky. And that's the guy calling the lineout, and that's the guy throwing the ball in.

“You know, it all comes quite tense, and that can affect the flow of things. But there's lots of things that we've been working on. But, no, we have to be better in that area. There's no-one shying away from that.”