Prendergast hopeful Munster trio Crowley, Milne and Kleyn could all be fit for Páirc showdown with Gloucester

Munster's Jack Crowley. Pic: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

Munster are hopeful Jack Crowley, Michael Milne and Jean Kleyn could be available for selection ahead of this Saturday’s Champions Cup pool showdown with Gloucester at Supervalu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

The international trio all missed last weekend’s 40-14 pool-opening defeat at English champions Bath but senior coach Mike Prendergast on Tuesday said they had all trained and could be in the mix for a return to action in Cork.

Fly-half Crowley reported ankle pain following the URC loss at home to Stormers and did not travel to England’s west country, with JJ Hanrahan starting at number 10 and starting scrum-half Craig Casey covering to compensate for a six forwards, two backs split on a bench without a recognised 10.

South Africa lock Kleyn had been named as a starter following a month away with the Springboks but withdrew on the eve of The Rec clash due to personal reasons while loosehead prop Milne sustained a knock to his knee during the pre-game warm-up and did not start as had been intended. Edwin Edogbo started in Kleyn’s absence with Fineen Wycherley the replacement lock, while Jeremy Loughman started instead of Milne with Josh Wycherley the loosehead back-up.

On Crowley, Prendergast said: “He trained today, he was out there. He participated in certain parts of it and he looked quite good. So hopefully he'll be good.

“In saying that, I thought JJ ran an outstanding game last week, which was great to happen, and even Tony (Butler) before that has pitched up very well but Jack, hopefully he will come into the mix. It's not guaranteed, we'll know more towards the end of the week, but signs are quite positive.” 

The same applied to Milne, of whom the senior coach added: “Hopefully, he'll be good to go. He needs probably just a small bit more time or more clarity in and around that.

"Jean hopefully will be good to go. Again, not 100 per cent sure. We'll have all that guaranteed on Thursday, but the signs are looking positive."

In addition, Jack O’Donoghue could return to the back-row selection debate should he complete his return to play protocols following a concussion against the Stormers while Saturday’s replacement second row Fineen Wycherley is having a gash to his finger monitored across the week before a decision is made.

“Fineen is still in with a shout,” Prendergast said. “Probably not as confident as maybe the other two boys, but he's not ruled out at the moment. It's more of a kind of infection thing if he gets it. So hopefully we'll be good to go.” 

 Munster trained in the teeth Storm Bram at their High Performance Centre in Limerick on Tuesday and Prendergast referenced the difficult conditions experienced in Bath when his players were bombarded with high balls in an aerial battle in which they were often second best.

“It was horrific,” he said of the training session conditions. “We ended up having a – not a bad thing after the weekend - it was a bit of an old-school kind of session. You couldn't do anything in it. It was a bit of one-out, everyone banging off each other. Not a bad thing after the weekend, I suppose.”