Good news for Munster as several players, including Conor Murray, return from injury

Diarmuid Barron, Diarmuid Kilgallen and Jack O’Donoghue have also returned to full Munster training ahead of Saturday's Champions Cup clash with Saracens. 

Conor Murray during Munster training in December. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Munster have welcomed back Conor Murray, Diarmuid Barron, Diarmuid Kilgallen and Jack O’Donoghue to full team training ahead of this Saturday’s Champions Cup pool clash with Saracens at Thomond Park.

Murray has not played since earning his 120th cap for Ireland against Fiji in November due to an elbow injury but the 35-year-old scrum-half’s potential return for a first Munster appearance since October 19 is a timely one given the serious knee injury sustained by fellow international Craig Casey last month in the Champions Cup defeat at Castres. 

That game, a 16-14 loss at Stade Pierre Fabre which leaves Munster third in their group heading into the final two rounds of pool action, was Barron’s last game, the hooker having picked up a shoulder injury in France on a bruising night for interim boss Ian Costello’s side.

Back-rower O’Donoghue missed Munster’s last outing, the home URC derby defeat to Leinster on December 27, with a shoulder injury while summer signing Kilgallen has managed just one appearance since his move from Connacht, the exciting wing impressing on debut in the match against the All Blacks XV after recovering from a pre-season injury, only to then injury his wrist.

There is also a chance Peter O’Mahony could return from the calf knock he sustained in Castres with the veteran back-rower’s availability to be determined later in the week ahead of Friday’s team announcement.

The returns to training as Munster go in search of the necessary points to secure qualification for the Round of 16 ahead of a difficult trip to Northampton Saints the following week, are a welcome boost for a squad still ravaged by long-term injuries.

Alex Nankivell’s hamstring injury sustained in the win at Ulster on December 20 is understood to be awaiting a recovery timeline after he was the victim of foul play when Ireland prop Tom O’Toole dropped his full body weight onto the New Zealander’s exposed leg at a ruck in the Kingspan Park derby battle.

O’Toole was handed a six-match ban on Monday for the dangerous clearout that caused the Munster centre’s injury in Belfast. He is set to miss the opening two rounds of next month’s Guinness Six Nations, the final pair of games in the suspension period dished out by the independent judicial officer Sheriff Kathrine Mackie.

The initial ban was for 10 weeks, starting retrospectively with Ulster’s derby win over Connacht and will also include the Champions Cup ties at Leicester Tigers this weekend and the following week’s home pool tie with Exeter Chiefs, as well as the URC round 10 meeting with Zebre Parma. Yet while O’Toole’s suspension was reduced by 40% following his admission of foul play and immediate and subsequent apology, he was denied full mitigation due to a previous red card issued for foul play in 2022.

O’Toole’s absence will be a blow to Ireland interim head coach Simon Easterby given the prop’s ability to play on both sides of the scrum. In the absence of injured Tadhg Furlong he provided bench cover for starting tighthead Finlay Bealham against New Zealand and Australia during the Autumn Nations Series last November, either side of backing up loosehead Andrew Porter against Fiji.

With Furlong having not played since October, though possibly set for a return to the Leinster front row for Champions Cup duty at some point over the next two weekends, and O’Toole now suspended, there may be opportunity for Munster’s Oli Jager to make a return to the Ireland squad when Easterby names his first panel on Wednesday week for the opening two games against England at home on February 1 and Scotland away eight days later.

Jager earned his first and only cap to date off the bench in last year’s Six Nations clash with Wales but missed last November’s Test window due to a neck injury. In the former Crusader’s absence, head coach Andy Farrell handed Leinster’s Thomas Clarkson his first caps against Fiji and Argentina and Jager needs a big Champions Cup performance this weekend to stake his claim to a return to the Ireland camp.