Clayton McMillan sheds light on ‘obscure’ Jack Crowley injury as semi-final chances addressed
Jack Crowley (right) has been out of action since mid-April with a leg issue.
Munster head coach Clayton McMillan admits the leg injury sidelining Jack Crowley is “a little bit obscure”, with the fly-half set for further assessments on the issue.
Crowley has been ruled out of their upcoming United Rugby Championship (URC) play-off tie against the Bulls this weekend, and has not featured for the Limerick-based side since mid-April. In his place, JJ Hanrahan has become the starting fly-half.
He is also not the only Ireland international suffering with a knock, either, with Edwin Edogbo and Tadhg Beirne still under an injury cloud after not being mentioned in Munster’s recent squad update ahead of their trip to Pretoria.
‘It comes and goes, so a little bit more investigation is required’
Crowley’s issue is somewhat of a concern moving forward, both for Munster and Ireland. Last week, the club detailed he had increased his training volume in an effort to be fit for their clash against the Lions, but did not make the 23-man squad, and has now been deemed unavailable for selection.
“Clearly, it’s something that’s a little bit obscure,” head coach McMillan said of his injury. “It comes and goes, so a little bit more investigation is required.
“If you saw him walking around the building now, you wouldn’t have any concerns, but when he’s running, something happens that brings around a dead-leg feeling.
“We can’t take the risk of taking him to South Africa and then not playing, so he’s having to stay back.”
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However, while he is out of this weekend’s clash against the Bulls, McMillan stressed they could explore bringing him back into the mix should they reach next week’s semi-finals.
“All those sorts of things are being explored,” he said. “99% of the time, he feels absolutely 100%, so we’ve got to get to the bottom of it.
“Hopefully, it’s something that can be fixed pretty quickly, and if we get through to the semi-final, we’ll explore that option then.”
Elsewhere, Munster could welcome Fineen Wycherley and Alex Nankivell back into the match-day 23 this weekend, with the pair deemed fit to play after their withdrawal from selection against the Lions.
McMillan has yet to name his travelling squad for the play-off tie, but the team will travel to South Africa today (Tuesday, 26th May) and arrive in Pretoria tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday, 27th May).