Van Graan reassures Joey Carbery that Munster have his back

Munster coach Johann van Graan has refused to speculate about a possible return date for Joey Carbery after the outhalf's injury nightmare took its latest cruel twist.

An ankle injury first sustained on international duty for Ireland just over a year ago has not recovered sufficiently, and after undergoing surgery in February, Carbery now faces an ‘indefinite’ period on the sidelines.

Carbery injured his ankle in a pre-World Cup warm-up match against Italy last summer, and despite a rapid return to action to make the tournament in Japan, the Munster No 10 aggravated the injury and only managed a provincial comeback in December.

While absent with a wrist injury sustained two games into his return, it was decided that the 24-year old required surgery on the ankle problem, but after expecting to be back fit by September he now faces another lengthy spell on the absent list.

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Carbery's likely long-term absence means Munster are now short of experience in the key pivot position. Tyler Bleyendaal retired in May due to the effects of a neck injury that dogged him throughout his five seasons in Limerick, while Ian Keatley, Bill Johnston and Conor Fitzgerald were all let go in recent times.

JJ Hanrahan cemented his position as first choice in Carbery's absence, but with just one start between his three young back-up outhalves Ben Healy, Jake Flannery and Jack Crowley, Van Graan says 'all options are open'.

“I’m not a medical person. We’ll look after him [Carbery] every step of the way. I wouldn’t want to speculate any further on the matter,” said Van Graan.

“Look, I think the most important thing is we wanted to make sure that we knew what’s the best for Joey first so we’ve managed that now.

“I think it’s just about looking at all possible options. We’ve got JJ who has been our first choice for the back end of last season. Then we’ve got Tyler that has retired. Then you’ve got three really good youngsters, 20- and 21-year-olds in Ben, Jake Flannery and Jack.

"All options will remain on the table. As always, we'll look to fill within first and then we'll be in constant communication with David Nucifora as to the future, but in terms of what's coming short term, we're really excited to look at what we have.

"We've also Rory Scannell, who has played at 10 for Munster before and he was on the bench for the Champions Cup so we will be finding the balance in the coming months."

Carbery joined Munster in 2018 in a controversial move from rivals Leinster. Since then he has only managed to play 17 times for the province, with just one start for the talented playmaker before the season was disrupted in March. His first season in red was interrupted by a couple of hamstring injuries, but this ankle issue and the wrist ligament injury have been big setbacks for him. Van Graan says the province will help him cope with the latest receipt of bad news.

“The most important thing at play is Joey. He’s been working very hard on his rehab and he’s done everything that the medical team asked him to do. Unfortunately, in the next step of his rehab, he went to the specialist again and it wasn’t great news.

“Together with David [Nucifora] and Andy [Farrell] we met up and reassured him we’ve got his back. Munster and the IRFU are with him on his journey to a full recovery. Like we said, he’s out for an indefinite time so we’ll take it day by day with him now until he returns.

“Joey’s a quality man. He’s got a real positive outlook on life. Out of everyone that’s disappointed, he’ll be the guy most excited to fight his way back. this will take time, but he’s got a lot of good support.”

The announcement of Carbery’s injury will certainly rock Munster’s players ahead of their return to action on Saturday against Leinster at the Aviva Stadium.

Without a game since February 29th, Munster’s preparation was disrupted last week when one of their training group tested positive for Covid-19, and while they await the results of this week’s testing, Van Graan says they are focused on Saturday’s game.

“Everybody was pretty calm. Fair dues to our doctor who really managed the situation well.

“We’ve taken every single precaution, then all of a sudden it becomes real when one of your players has actually got the virus.

“Life is more important than rugby, we’ve got to look after each other first. You look at the losses some people have taken so very much look after each other and the rugby is pretty much secondary to that.

“But the main thing that we’re all here for is to play rugby and for us as a group the first main objective for this new season was to play on Saturday evening and that’s still the first objective.”