A serious neck injury has ended Tyler Bleyendaal's season with Munster before he has even set foot in the province, while Ireland's Iain Henderson will be sidelined until around the turn of the year.
The Ulster forward is due to undergo an operation on his hip to resolve an ongoing problem, thereby ruling the lock out of Ireland's November tests.
Bleyendaal, the talented 24-year-old Canterbury outhalf, had looked a prized capture for Munster, but having missed his province’s last two NPC games, it has emerged that he is due to have surgery to correct a prolapsed disc in his neck. According to report in New Zealand, whether he will represent Munster “will depend on if the operation is a success”.
Bleyendaal had wanted to end his Canterbury career by helping them defend the NPC title before relocating to Ireland but the injury he suffered while playing Waikato in Hamilton last month has terminated those hopes.
“I am working with Munster to plan the rehab process and I’m looking forward to contributing to their campaign once I have fully recovered,’’ Bleyendaal said.
“Tyler is such a talented and smart player, so losing him for the rest of the season is a big blow,’’ Canterbury coach Scott Robertson said.
This latest development compounds a trying and difficult start for Anthony Foley and the new, home-grown Munster coaching ticket under his watch, albeit largely not of his own making. A leaked management report inadvertently found its way to every single member of the Munster playing squad a week before the start of the Pro12 season, itemising what the province’s management regarded as flaws in individual players as part of their no-holds-barred analysis.
There followed dispiriting opening day loss at home to Edinburgh last Friday, after which Foley admitted it would be hard to sleep.
The 22-year-old Henderson is one of the brightest young forward talents n Irish rugby, with 12 caps already under his belt. A ferocious carrier, with real athleticism as a line-out operator and capable of playing at both lock and blindside flanker, this unexpected interruption to his career is not ideal for Joe Schmidt, Ulster or the player himself.
Against that, the decision to rectify his hip problem now, almost exactly a year out from the World Cup, should ensure he is relatively prime nick for that tournament, with the Six Nations to come after the turn of the year as well as the rest of the season for both Ulster and Ireland, before the World Cup warm-up matches in August 2015.
