Peter O'Mahony and Jack O'Donoghue big doubts for Leinster clash

Munster are likely to be without both Peter O'Mahony and Jack O'Donoghue for this weekend's meeting with Leinster, in a double injury blow for the BKT United Rugby champions.

The pair picked up respective shoulder and ankle injuries in Saturday's 10-3 win against the Stormers.

The Munster coaching team are waiting on scans to confirm the extent of the damage, but both players have sat out training so far this week, which doesn't bode well for their chances of featuring at the Aviva Stadium.

While it would undoubtedly be a blow for the province to lose both their captain and vice-captain, Munster do have a healthy supply of back-row forwards with Alex Kendellen, John Hodnett and Gavin Coombes a potential starting trio.

Jack O'Sullivan and Jack Daly are among the other senior back-rows in the squad, while Tadhg Beirne could also drop back to flanker. The Munster coaches have also shown no fear of throwing younger players in at the deep end over the last 12 months, with Ireland U20 Gland Slam winners Brian Gleeson and Ruadhan Quinn given opportunities over the last year.

"It's really exciting, the depth we have in those areas," forwards coach Andi Kyriacou said.

"Like we've shown throughout last season and this season so far, we just put the next lad in. We're confident in what they can do and the way they're all training currently and the way they've played in the first few rounds of the comp, there's no fear of putting lads in."

And the Munster assistant has credited the province's former development coaches Tom Tiernan and Greig Oliver - both of whom passed away in 2023 - with the progress shown by both Quinn and Gleeson.

"We've done a lot of work through the last six months and last season with the lads in the academy, Tommy