McMillan hedging bets on Bulls return for Crowley and Beirne

LATE CALL: Munster's Jack Crowley during the warm up ahead of the win over Lions. Pic:©INPHO/Bryan Keane

Munster hope to have Tadhg Beirne and Jack Crowley back for their URC quarter-final trip to Bulls in South Africa in 12 days but Clayton McMillan was hedging his bets in the aftermath of the 24-17 win that saw his side reach the end of season play-offs.

On another disruptive night for a Munster squad already missing eight frontline players, Ireland fly-half Crowley was pulled from the starting line-up to face the Lions four minutes before kick-off in their must-win final game of the regular season.

The 26-year-old had been one of the walking wounded who had looked most likely to make a return on Saturday night having missed the previous two matches after sustaining a leg injury in the pre-game warm-up of the home win over Ulster on April 25. Crowley had then missed the defeat at Connacht but was named to start against the Lions and took a full part in the pre-match session at Thomond Park, only to be withdrawn just before kick-off, the intermittent nature of the neural issue striking once again. JJ Hanrahan was promoted from the bench to start at 10 and kicked a penalty and all three conversions on a perfect night off the tee with the head coach priming the 34-year-old for a fourth start in a row when Munster travel to South Africa for their May 30 knockout clash at Loftus Versfeld.

“It's obviously a bit of a concern because it's a recurring injury,” McMIllan said of Crowley post-match. “Just that no one's really able to get a handle on exactly what's going on.

“He would have had a pretty decent week of training. We had a good hit out here on Thursday, training here and he took a full part in that and no dramas. And then just got to today and again the neural stuff just kicked in.

“So look, it's way above my station what's going on with his body but I'm sure it will come right. We've got a two-week lead-in to the Bulls so I'd be reasonably confident that he'd be all right and there'll be others that are on the injury list that will be back.” 

Captain Beirne was absent for the third game in succession on Saturday as he recovers from a knee injury picked up in the win over Ulster. The Ireland forward was on the pitch with the squad at full-time but wearing a knee brace with Munster’s boss describing his chances of facing the Bulls as “touch and go”.

The knee brace, McMillan said, was “I'm sure precautionary, (he) probably likes getting everyone patting him on the back walking around in it feeling sorry for him.

“Could be touch and go. Somebody like Tadhg has big things ahead of him, a big year ahead, and we wouldn't push him unnecessarily. We'll be guided by him really. If he's ready then he'll be available and if he's not then as we've seen tonight, we've got able bodies that will step up.” 

Munster’s second row stocks have been stretched to the limit of late with Jean Kleyn sustaining a bicep injury against Ulster and Edwin Edobgo a shoulder problem at Connacht, while Fineen Wycherley received a knock in training and was withdrawn from the starting line-up on Saturday night. Tom Ahern and Evan O’Connell started against the Lions, both of them scoring tries, though the former was taken off clutching a wrist on 56 minutes with Gavin Coombes covering the second row from the bench.

Munster were also forced into a late backline reshuffle after Alex Nankivell received a knock having been named to start. With Tom Farrell sidelined by the shoulder injury he picked up against Ulster, McMillan moved Sean O’Brien from wing to inside centre, moving Dan Kelly to number 13. Academy centre Gordon Wood earned a second-half debut as a replacement for leg-injury victim Shane Daly, who himself had been called in to cover O’Brien’s switch inside. The 21-year-old had been drafted onto the bench in Hanrahan’s place, when the fly-half received his late call to start, and both McMillan and stand-in captain Craig Casey praised the veteran playmaker’s performance against the Lions.

“I think JJ is someone that has copped a lot of flak from a lot of people over the last, I don't know how long,” Casey said. “How calm he was, how he drove us around the pitch tonight was absolutely outstanding, and I hope he showed up a few people to be honest, because he's someone that holds a lot of respect in our group, and I thought he did an unbelievable job. So, hopefully, proves a few doubters wrong there.”

McMillan added: “He's one of those, you know, it's not his first rodeo. He's been around the block a little bit, but he's a competitor.

“He turns up each week and he desperately wants to start and he'll come knocking on my door when he doesn't get a start or he misses out on the 23, because he still feels like he's got a lot to offer the game.

“It's when you lose somebody like Jack, that's not an easy thing to do, to just get notice a couple of minutes before you run out on the park that you're now driving the ship and he's done that two or three weeks in succession.

“He did a great job for us tonight. He did the same when he got late notice against Ulster and he might be the go-to guy again in a couple of weeks' time.”