Munster Rugby sweat on fitness of scrum-half Craig Casey ahead of crunch Castres clash

MUNSTER Rugby are sweating on the fitness of international scrum-half Craig Casey ahead of Saturday's crucial Investec Champions Cup clash with Castres at Thomond Park, 5.30pm, live on Premier Sports 1.

Casey sustained a shoulder injury during the course of Munster's narrow defeat to Toulon in the Champions Cup at the Stade Felix Mayol on Sunday.

The Ireland scrum-half left the field in the 73rd minute of the contest and was replaced by Ethan Coughlan.

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Coughlan had been drafted into Munster's matchday squad for the game against Toulon after replacement Paddy Patterson was ruled out, having sustained a knock during the warm-up.

Ahead of kick-off, Munster were forced to bring Ruadhán Quinn onto the replacements bench for Tom Ahern as he was forced to withdraw from the matchday squad due to a neck injury.

Munster's 27-25 reverse to Toulon on Sunday makes the province's final pool fixture against Castres at Thomond Park on Saturday a must-win fixture for Clayton McMillan's charges if they are to progress to the knock-out stages of the competition.

Munster sit in the fourth and final qualifying place in Pool 2, level on points with Gloucester and just one ahead of Castres before the French side's visit to Limerick next weekend.

Having now lost two of their three Champions Cup pool games to date an away draw in April’s Round of 16 now looks most likely for Munster should they finish the pool on a winning note at Thomond Park on Saturday.