CARBERY ANOTHER MUNSTER CASUALTY

MUNSTER have been dealt another injury blow with Joey Carbery set to miss the opening month of the new season. The Munster No10 (above) has been blighted by injury since he damaged his ankle in Ireland’s World Cup warm-up game against Italy in Dublin last August. Carbery travelled to Japan six weeks later but the 24year-old was never fully fit at the tournament. He then suffered a wrist injury in January and would miss the remainder of the season. It was hoped Carbery would be back in action for the province’s interprovincial clash with Leinster at Aviva Stadium on August 22, but he will take an extra month to get himself right for what is set to be a marathon campaign. Munster head coach Johann van Graan has other injury worries with frontline tighthead John Ryan facing a spell on the sidelines after undergoing shoulder surgery. World Cup-winning Springbok Damian de Allende, Keith Earls and Calvin Nash are all managing ‘short-term injuries’ but Munster are optimistic that Tadhg Beirne, who suffered a serious ankle injury last December, is on course to be ready for the new campaign. CJ Stander and Chris Cloete have both recently returned to Ireland from South Africa and will self-isolate for the next 14 days. Munster and Leinster both returned to training in small groups yesterday at their respective high-performance bases, and Leo Cullen was cautiously optimistic as the province began a nine-week build-up to the interprovincial series. ‘We’re in very, very small

groups at the moment,’ the Leinster head coach explained. ‘Depending on forwards and backs, it’s five, six and seven in terms of players, so we’ve eight groups,’ added Cullen. ‘That will get built up next week and more than likely become four groups. We’re changing in line with Government guidelines as well, and the IRFU are in communication there all the time, so we’re being very much guided by that, trying to make sure the environment is as safe as possible. ‘All the various different monitoring and screening that needs to take place is going to be important for us, so if something were to happen we’re able to shut things down quite quickly.’ More intensive training will come at a later stage, he said. ‘We’re just taking it step by step – baby steps at the moment – and then as we get closer to playing games, we can start to ramp up a bit closer to what a game is going to look like in the leadin to the start date of August 22. ‘We do have some time to be slow and gradual but on the flip side it won’t be too long before it comes around as well, so we’re all very excited about that prospect.’