McMillan planning without quintet but hope for Crowley and Beirne

The southern province take on Connacht this weekend.

Dan Kelly and his team-mates during Munster Rugby squad training session at the University of Limerick in Limerick. Pic: Matt Browne/Sportsfile

There is hope Jack Crowley and Tadhg Beirne will return before the end of the season, if Munster reach the URC knockout rounds, but Clayton McMillan is resigned to losing another quintet of Ireland internationals as his bids for a play-off berth.

The head coach was forced to name a side missing seven newly-injured frontliners to face Connacht in Galway on Saturday following a successful but attritional home clash with Ulster on April 25. Though fly-half Crowley (leg) and captain Beirne (knee) will miss the derby at a sold-out Dexcom Stadium but are the most likely to play a further part in Munster’s bid for silverware. On Thursday, McMillan delivered a bleaker outlook for centre Tom Farrell (shoulder), props Oli Jager (head) and Michael Milne (calf), wing Calvin Nash (hamstring) and South Africa lock Jean Kleyn, whose bicep injury sustained in the first half of the 41-14 win at Thomond Park could have brought a premature end to his decade-long, 167-cap career at the province.