Hanrahan injury has Munster in crisis ahead of Euro tie
MUNSTER are facing a potential injury crisis at outhalf ahead of next Saturday’s European Champions Cup opener against the Ospreys in Swansea.
The province were already without the services of firstchoice No10 Joey Carbery – who returned from World Cup duty still struggling with an ankle injury – but Johann van Graan is now facing the possibility of losing back-up out-half JJ Hanrahan to a hamstring injury, leaving Tyler Bleyendaal as the only frontline playmaker in the current squad.
Hanrahan was having an impressive outing against Ulster last night but suffered a hamstring injury in the
30th minute, having shipped a late hit from visiting fullback Matt Faddes.
The Kerryman was replaced by Bleyendaal, but did not return to the fray.
‘It looks like a hamstring straight away on that late hit,’ said Van Graan. ‘It was an immediate call from our doctor that he’s going to come off so obviously with a hamstring you’ve got to give it a bit of time.
‘We’ll scan it on Monday so hopefully we’ll know more.
‘Obviously it’s a big concern for us with Joey out as well so we’ll just take our stocks on Monday and go again.’
Asked if the province would consider registering an additional out-half to their European squad, Van Graan replied: ‘Possibly. Rory (Scannell) can cover 10 as well. He has played at 10 for Munster before. He is a very good goal kicker.
‘The next option is Ben Healy (the Ireland Under 20s out-half) which would be exciting if we need to swap in. That’s currently our options. (In a) worse-case scenario we have a few nines who can play 10, like Neil Cronin.’
Van Graan expects Keith Earls and Tadhg Beirne to be in the mix for selection next week, but there is concern over Dave Kilcoyne who suffered an injury in training last Thursday.
‘Earlsy actually ran pretty well outside in the warm-up and Tadhg we are managing – he might be back next week,’ he added.
‘Dave actually got injured in Thursday’s training session. We’ll reassess him on Monday – he was actually going to start but he got injured in a scrum and we’ll take our time with him and give feedback once we know a bit more.’