Murray and Farrell poised for Munster return

CONOR MURRAY could make his long-awaited comeback to rugby this Sunday as the Ireland scrum-half has made his full return to Munster training.

Johann van Graan’s side have in fact been handed a double boost ahead of their PRO14 clash against Zebre, with centre Chris Farrell primed to end his 10-month injury lay-off.

Murray and Farrell took part in full training yesterday and will be in contention to feature this weekend if they come through this week unscathed.

Murray last played during Ireland’s summer tour to Australia and hasn’t featured for Munster at all this season due to a neck injury, while Farrell has been recovering from a knee injury picked up in the Six Nations.

Munster coach JP Ferreira said it was a relief to have the duo back in training, but he sounded a note of caution regarding Murray’s comeback.

“Certainly with Conor you just have to wait out the process and get him strong enough,” said Ferreira.

“He’s in the same boat as Chris Farrell, training, he’s on the pitch. He has gone through extensive rehab, and getting him physically ready and getting him contact ready.

“Look, it’s like Tyler (Bleyendaal), with a neck injury you can’t take any risks. You can’t take any risks with neck injuries.”

Meanwhile, Jean Kleyn has been ruled out of the Champions Cup double-header against Castres, although Conor Oliver, Jaco Taute, Calvin Nash and Ronan O’Mahony should be in the mix.