Dave Kilcoyne's return still 'few weeks away' - Munster coach Johann van Graan

MUNSTER head coach Johann van Graan has confirmed that Ireland prop Dave Kilcoyne remains weeks away from a return to action due to injury.

Kilcoyne sustained an ankle injury in the opening minutes of Munster's Guinness PRO14 regular season clash with Leinster at the Aviva Stadium in August.

Munster have missed Kilcoyne's ball-carrying prowess in recent months.

Van Graan confirmed in the wake of Munster's exciting 38-27 bonus point win over Cardiff Blues at Thomond Park on Monday that 31-year-old Kilcoyne has still not been able to train with the squad.

Van Graan said of the Limerick prop's recovery: He’s a bit slow. I’ll give you a better update later in the week, but he’s (Dave Kilcoyne) still a few weeks away. He hasn’t trained with the team yet which is really disappointing because if you go back to after lockdown, that Leinster game, we lost RG (Snyman) and Dave Kilcoyne pretty quickly and he’s not back yet.

"It’s a blow to us but great for Cro (James Cronin) to get a lot of minutes, I thought some of his poaching work was exceptional tonight and great to have Josh Wycherley get his professional debut in a PRO14 game, so I’ll look at all the positives.”