Some of Munster’s Irish internationals could be back in action this weekend after returning to training on Monday with the province ahead of their URC top of the table clash with the Stormers on Saturday.
Tadhg Beirne, Jack Crowley, Craig Casey and Tom Farrell featured against South Africa on Saturday but Munster forwards coach Alex Codling said they had returned to training and a decision would be taken later in the week to see if they will play against the Cape Town side at Thomond Park on Saturday evening.
A fifth Munster player, lock Tom Ahern, was also in the Irish squad for the autumn internationals but his hopes of a third cap were thwarted when he suffered a head injury in the build-up to the game against Japan.
“They’ve obviously come off the back of a tough series physically, and none more so than the game on Saturday,” said Codling after training in Limerick on Monday afternoon. “They were back training today. The one thing about the boys, whenever they come back into the environment, they’ve come bouncing in.
READ MORE
“The boys are glad to have them back, as we are as coaches. So again, that will be a decision later in the week just in terms of where they are physically and mentally after the autumn series. It’s very much an individual-by-individual basis.”
Codling also confirmed that a decision will be taken later in the week on the promising lock Edwin Edogbo after the 22-year old suffered a separate injury setback after recovering from the head issue he suffered in the win over Leinster last month.
“It’s just another little injury he’s picked up, so he’s training this week and there’ll be a decision around selection in a day or so’s time, but no, he’s tracking well. He’s very close. He’s been training. Like everything, it’s just making sure that his play is centralised, so we’ll make sure he comes through the right processes, and the decision regarding selection will be, I said, in the next 24 hours or so,” added Codling.
He said that tighthead Oli Jager is also getting close to being back in action, having returned to non-contact training and is awaiting a specialist review before resuming contact training.
“The next stage now is to see a specialist just to be signed off to come back to play fully. So he’s in a good place, obviously in terms of timelines. It’ll just be between himself seeing a specialist and then liaising with the club, so that’ll happen in a very short time.”
Codling said they were gearing up for a 10-game block after a flawless start to the season which has seen them win all five URC games as well as clash last time out against an Argentinian XV, which they won 31-28.
They have used 47 players in those six games to date but Codling said this will be a new test against a Stormers side who have also won all five league games and are just above them at the top of the table with a superior points difference.
“It’s a really good way to come back and start the block, playing the URC leaders,” added Codling, whose side open their Champions Cup campaign away to Johann van Graan’s Bath the following week before hosting Gloucester at Páirc Uí Chaoimh a week later.
