There are fears that Munster could be without captain Tadhg Beirne for the rest of the season due to a knee injury, as they count the cost of their recent URC win against Ulster.
While the province gave their Champions Cup qualification hopes a major boost with back-to-back bonus-point wins over Benetton and Ulster, the second of those games came with a brutal tax of five major injuries.
Beirne (knee), Tom Farrell (shoulder), Oli Jager (head), Jean Kleyn (biceps) and Calvin Nash (hamstring) all picked up injuries during that 41-14 win, after which head coach Clayton McMillan suggested some of those could be "season-enders".
The province's latest injury report confirmed all five will miss Saturday’s crucial meeting with Connacht at Dexcom Stadium (7.45pm), although they have stopped short of giving a timeline on their potential return dates.
"With the five that were spoken about, big losses," assistant coach Mossy Lawler told RTÉ Sport.
"Obviously, to take five points against Ulster was massive, but we did take that big injury toll off the back end of it.
"Some of our big players miss out, but where there's injuries, there's opportunities and loads of lads chomping at the bit to get in this week and play a massive game, massive inter-pro versus Connacht in the Sportsground."
When specifically asked if they feared their captain Beirne could be one of the "season-enders", Lawler gave an abrupt answer.
"He won't be available this weekend anyway," the skills coach (below) replied.
In better news for Munster, Jack Crowley will be available for Saturday’s Interpro with Connacht.
The out-half was a late withdrawal from the side that took on Ulster just over a week ago due to a leg injury, but has returned to full training without any further issues.
The province can guarantee a play-off spot with victory on Saturday evening, while they could even finish the regular season with a home quarter-final if they also do the business next week against the Lions.
That would represent a major turnaround after their hopes of even getting into the play-offs looked in real doubt a few weeks ago.
Remarkably, their two recent wins on the pitch have come against the backdrop of more drama in the Munster boardroom.
The province are back on the hunt for a new attack coach following the decision to cancel the appointment of Roger Randle as attack coach.
The New Zealander had initially been recruited on a two-year deal to replace the outgoing senior coach Mike Prendergast, which sparked a backlash from supporters as well resignations from the Munster professional games board over the process of his appointment.
The controversy around his appointment stemmed from a 1997 allegation of rape made against Randle while in Durban, South Africa, with his former club Hurricanes.
The New Zealander was initially charged with rape, but the case did not proceed as the complainant dropped the charges. Randle has always denied the allegation against him.
Prior to the Randle (below) appointment, Lawler had been under consideration to step up from his role as skills coach to lead the attack, but with that vacancy now open again, the former Munster wing gave a straight-bat when asked if he would be putting his name forward.
"That's not something I'm willing to comment on, this week in particular," he replied.
"The powers that be will decide that in the future.
"I'm just focused on the here and now. Massive game this weekend, so that's where my head is, and is staying.
"Everything's a challenge in pro rugby. For us as a group, we're fairly tight-knit and our focus has just been inside our camp and focus on what we can control.
"I think we've left ourselves in a really good position for the end of the season, in relation to, we take points where it's in our own control, so that has been our sole focus."
Similarly, Lawler would not be drawn on whether the coaching team have full faith in those making decisions at the top of Munster Rugby.
"There was a statement released by Munster Rugby last week, and I don't have any further comment to mention on that," he said.
Recent performances would suggest that the playing group hasn’t allowed the recent headlines to become a distraction, as they look to finish an inconsistent season on a high.
And number 8 Gavin Coombes (above) believes the team have become used to drowning out the "outside noise".
"Munster is such a big club, and it's always in the media, there's always something being said about Munster," Coombes said.
"That's all outside noise and no matter what's going on, it’s this group in the high performance centre, it's nothing to do with us. No one's been talking about it and it's all been focused on what we can do on the weekend.
"I just think that's all outside noise, and we've had this every year. Same last year when we came down to the last two games where we had to win and there was outside noise again.
"We're such a close group that we can stick together and stay on task, and I think that's kind of what we've done. It’s just always been part of this club and I think it will be going forward as well."
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