The return of Jason Jenkins could give Munster an extra edge in the final third of the season, according to senior coach Stephen Larkham.
The 26-year-old South African has endured a nightmare season to date, with injuries to his shoulder, thigh and most recently abdomen limiting him to just one appearance as a substitute.
The one-cap Springbok, who is set to move east to Leinster next season, is expected to return to action this week when Munster host Benetton on Friday night at Musgrave Park in the United Rugby Championship.
And with just five regular season games left in the URC, as well as the Champions Cup knockouts coming up, Larkham believes Jenkins could be the province's secret weapon in the business end of the season.
"Definitely, he's a quality player, that’s the reason we brought him here in the first place," Larkham said.
"It has been very frustrating for him, I guess similar to RG [Snyman], we haven’t seen him on the park."
Munster name their team tomorrow for Friday night's game, but Larkham has hinted he could be put straight into a starting role.
'I'm not so sure he should be getting game time’ - @bernardjackman and @fihayes27 offer their thoughts to @neil_treacy about the impact lock Jason Jenkins could have before his summer departure for Leinster #RTERugby #RTESport
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 23, 2022
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"He trained really well today and we are kind of in desperate need of second rows.
"Fineen [Wycherley] and JK [Jean Kleyn] have played just about every minute of the last couple of games so, with Thomas Ahern being injured, RG being injured, and some of the younger guys being injured as well, it’s timing so it’s really good to have him back.
"He obviously has to get through the rest of the week but it’s good to have him back training."
The province are yet to establish the extent of the knee injury suffered by Andrew Conway while in Ireland camp.
The 30-year-old wing missed the final game of Ireland's Six Nations campaign last week with a knee complaint.
However, Larkham says that while they are yet to find out the full extent of his injury, the early indications are that it is not a major issue.
"No, still not sure at this stage (how long he will be out for).
"We got three guys back into training this week — Craig Casey, Gavin Coombes and Jeremy Loughman — but the other guys we haven't seen yet.
"We have got to get eyes on him before we can make an assessment. But we don’t think it is anything really long-term," he added.
The province will be looking to get back to winning ways against Benetton after losing both of their games on the tour of South Africa.
And while they saw leads of 14-0 and 21-10 slip during their defeat to the Lions last Saturday, the coach says it was a valuable learning experience for some of the younger players in the squad.
"Josh Wycherley, particularly in that Lions game was outstanding.
"Some of the effort he put off the ball, their two tries, he was the one right there at the end chasing them and then his set-piece detail, his detail around the paddock, the energy he brings to the team, it was tremendous.
"Likewise with Alex (Kendellen), I thought he had two tremendous games. He was cramping in that last game but he put everything into every minute he had out there on the field and I thought both games, he was tremendous for us," the Australian added.
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