Munster are likely to be without both Peter O'Mahony and Jack O'Donoghue for this weekend's meeting with Leinster, in a double injury blow for the BKT United Rugby champions.
The pair picked up respective shoulder and ankle injuries in Saturday's 10-3 win against the Stormers.
The Munster coaching team are waiting on scans to confirm the extent of the damage, but both players have sat out training so far this week, which doesn't bode well for their chances of featuring at the Aviva Stadium.
While it would undoubtedly be a blow for the province to lose both their captain and vice-captain, Munster do have a healthy supply of back-row forwards with Alex Kendellen, John Hodnett and Gavin Coombes a potential starting trio.
Jack O'Sullivan and Jack Daly are among the other senior back-rows in the squad, while Tadhg Beirne could also drop back to flanker. The Munster coaches have also shown no fear of throwing younger players in at the deep end over the last 12 months, with Ireland U20 Gland Slam winners Brian Gleeson and Ruadhan Quinn given opportunities over the last year.
"It's really exciting, the depth we have in those areas," forwards coach Andi Kyriacou said.
"Like we've shown throughout last season and this season so far, we just put the next lad in. We're confident in what they can do and the way they're all training currently and the way they've played in the first few rounds of the comp, there's no fear of putting lads in."
And the Munster assistant has credited the province's former development coaches Tom Tiernan and Greig Oliver - both of whom passed away in 2023 - with the progress shown by both Quinn and Gleeson.
"We've done a lot of work through the last six months and last season with the lads in the academy, Tommy [Tierney] and Greig [Oliver] did a lot of good work with those men who have come through this season and it's meant we've got good depth in those areas to cross off any injury crisis we have.
"We'll see what that looks like as we get through the week with the results coming through on the two boys [O'Mahony and O'Donoghue]."
New signing Oli Jager isn't expected to make his debut in the Interpro against Leinster at the Aviva Stadium, for which 45,000 tickets have been sold. On Saturday, Rowntree hinted the province's new tighthead had an outside chance of featuring, but Kyriacou confirmed he's due to arrive in Limerick towards the end of the week.
Munster will have Jean Kleyn available for selection however.
The South Africa World Cup winner has been back training since Monday after being given three weeks off following the Springboks' success in France, and while Kyriacou wasn't giving away any secrets around team selection, he says the second row has got back up to speed quickly.
"He's training with us, doing everything now on the field. He's moving well, his meat and drink of his game is collisions, and it's very good again today.
"It's incredibly good to have him back in the building and on the field. He was a huge player for us last season and it's like he's not missed a beat out there today. Really glad to have him back in the building and hopefully available for the weekend," Kyriacou added.
Watch live coverage of the Vodacom Bulls v Connacht in the BKT United Rugby Championship on Saturday from 2.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, and listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
Follow a live blog of Leinster v Munster on Saturday from 6.30pm on on www.rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
