Craig Casey knock set to keep Munster scrum-half sidelined for at least two weeks

Craig Casey of Munster prepares to put the ball into the scrum during the United Rugby Championship match between Scarlets and Munster at Parc Y Scarlets. Pic: Gruff Thomas/Sportsfile

Clayton McMillan expects Craig Casey’s thigh injury to keep the Ireland scrum-half out of action for around two weeks but the Munster boss admitted it may take longer for a return to action.

Casey, who followed up his captaincy of Ireland on tour this summer with leading his home province for the first time last Saturday in the URC season-opening bonus-point victory at Scarlets, sustained his injury at the tail end of Tuesday’s training session at the Munster High Performance Centre. 

The 26-year-old will miss this Saturday’s Thomond Park clash with Cardiff, with his absence one of six changes from last weekend’s 34-21 win in Wales.

The victory in Llanelli also proved costly with back rower and newly-minted Irish international Alex Kendellen ruled out for up to eight weeks after requiring surgery on a high ankle sprain he sustained in the closing minutes of the Scarlets win. 

Replacement tighthead prop Conor Bartley picked up a thigh problem on his Munster debut last Saturday and has also been sidelined for six weeks while full-back Mike Haley was another to sustain a thigh injury, his contusion and low-grade strain mean a return to play in one to two weeks.

With JJ Hanrahan failing a Head Injury Assessment during the game, Jack Crowley is promoted from last week’s bench for his first start of the season at fly-half while Casey’s number nine jersey will go to Ethan Coughlan.

Kendellen’s injury and fellow openside flanker John Hodnett’s facial injury, which has required surgery and means a five-week absence, means the number seven jersey goes to powerful 21-year-old and recent academy graduate Ruadhan Quinn in a back row that sees Tom Ahern replace Jack O’Donoghue at blindside, and Gavin Coombes swap his place on the bench for the No.8 jersey with Brian Gleeson moving onto the replacements.

Haley’s place at full-back has been handed to academy player Ben O’Connor for McMillan’s first competitive home game since arriving as head coach from New Zealand’s Chiefs in pre-season.

While Kendellen and Bartley have defined return to play dates, McMillan explained that Casey was in a different place with his thigh injury.

“We’re still waiting on the timeline but he picked up an injury at training on Tuesday, the back end of training,” the Munster head coach said on Thursday after naming his team.

“We don’t know the full extent of it yet but we anticipate that it’s probably going to be, at best, a sort of two-week injury, potentially a little bit longer.” 

McMillan added: “Just non-contact, a real anomaly, that’s why we’re just taking our time before we make any announcement around his injury because we are not quite sure what that is at the moment.” 

The New Zealander said he would not be rushing into a conversation with recently exited Munster scrum-half legend Conor Murray, who announced his retirement as a player last month.

“Ha, well you never say never,” McMillan said when the prospect of Murray’s return was suggested to him.

“No, haven’t had any contact with Conor at the moment. Look, we haven’t really been out in the market and gone outside the guys that were here when I first walked in the door.

“Our intention is to give everyone that’s in the building every opportunity to put their best foot forward. Obviously we’d have a few concerns if the other two blokes (Coughlan and Paddy Patterson) that we’ve got running around took a ding that might put us in a vulnerable position but we have every faith in them.

“We’ll do our homework behind the scenes if the situation around Craig is more serious than what we initially think to make sure we are protected in that space, but at the moment we are hoping for the best.” 

Of Kendellen, the Munster boss said: “He’s got a high ankle sprain that requires some surgery that will just help accelerate his recovery. He picked that up at the back end of the game. He defended on the wing for a couple of sets because he was struggling to get going.

“One of those unfortunate injuries that sometimes happens in rugby training or games so that puts him out.

“The upside is that we’ve got John Hodnett, who is back in the building, he’s had his surgery to the injury he got in pre-season. He’ll be back on the field next week albeit limited around contact but his return to play is looking pretty positive actually in the coming month.” 

There was more positive news on a quintet of players who missed the first round through injury and are set to miss this Saturday’s Cardiff fixture.

Centre Tom Farrell (calf), loosehead prop Michael Milne (calf), tighthead prop John Ryan (elbow) and wing Andrew Smith (chest) are all set to return to training next week while another wing, Diarmuid Kilgallen (ankle), is due to return to training in one to two weeks.

McMillan said he was pleased to finally get his maiden campaign as Munster head coach under way but he was not getting carried away with the opening-round win on the road in West Wales.

“I really enjoyed the match-day experience last week. It was a good atmosphere. It was unfortunate that the weather came in but I’ve got to get used to that.

“I thought it was a good spectacle. Both teams probably took some positives, there was a lot to like, and we were good enough to have enough points on the board to win the game.

“Not so happy with the last 10 or 15 minutes where I think we could have managed the game a bit better. We gave up a couple of soft tries, and we don’t want to be that team.

“We were happy to win, particularly away from home but it’s feet firmly back on the ground and next-job focused. The boys have been great this week.” 

MUNSTER (v Cardiff, Saturday 7:45pm): Ben O’Connor; Shane Daly, Dan Kelly, Alex Nankivell, Thaakir Abrahams; Jack Crowley, Ethan Coughlan; Jeremy Loughman, Niall Scannell - captain, Oli Jager; Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley; Tom Ahern, Ruadhán Quinn, Gavin Coombes.

Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Josh Wycherley, Ronan Foxe, Jack O’Donoghue, Brian Gleeson, Paddy Patterson, Tony Butler, Seán O’Brien.