Sheahan damaged ligaments in his neck and will be out of action for anything from six to twelve weeks while Quinlan will shortly undergo an operation to repair damage to cruciate ligaments (knee) and he will be out of action for four or five months.

And there was further bad news for Munster when it was revealed today, following medical examination that Paul O'Connell will need surgery to have a pin inserted in his damaged hand, a process that will take three to five weeks.

Munster trained today in the wet at Thomond Park where Anthony Horgan and Trevor Halstead took a full part while Peter Stringer was also involved for the full session.

Munster will have their final training session in Cork on Thursday ahead of the game against Castres Olympique (Thomond Park, Saturday).