IT WAS A mixed day on the injury front for Munster coach Anthony Foley as he welcomed a few players back into full-training but is also facing a bit of a crisis at hooker.

Duncan Casey injured his ankle during the team’s training camp in Lanzarote last week and has been ruled out for between 4-6 weeks. Casey will join fellow hookers Mike Sherry and Damien Varley on the treatment table meaning Eusebio Guinazu and Niall Scannell are the only fit senior hookers Anthony Foley has at the moment.

But Foley will be happy that Luke O’Dea and Dave Kilcoyne are now training fully once again.

Another bit of positive news for the province was that New Zealander Tyler Bleyendaal has arrived in Ireland to continue his rehab from a neck injury.

Bleyendaal, who can play at ten or 12, was signed from the Crusaders with high hopes but has been sidelined since seriously injuring his neck before Christmas.

Foley stressed that people will need to be patient in the case of Bleyendaal.

“It is important that people understand where we are with Tyler,” Foley said to the Munster website.

“He only underwent surgery in September and has a lengthy rehab period still ahead of him. We wanted to bring him over here to further assess the diagnosis and monitor his progress in-house. With an injury like this there is always uncertainty and we want to make sure we are doing everything possible for the player. We should have a better understanding of the situation after reviewing his next scan in four weeks.”

Meanwhile, Connacht second row Michael Swift has been ruled out for up to eight weeks after fracturing his leg. The good news for the westerners is that Tiernan O’Halloran, Michael Kearney and Jake Heenan are available for this weekend’s trip to face Scarlets after coming through their Connacht Eagles game.

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