It means, of course, that Kleyn will miss the back-to-back European Cup games against Castres in December and quite possibly the PRO14 clash with Leinster at the end of the month.

Kleyn picked up the injury back in his native South Africa during the win over the Cheetahs in the side’s last outing before next Sunday’s visit to Zebre.

The good news is that scrum-half Conor Murray and centre Chris Farrell may well compensate for Kleyn’s absence by making their first appearances on the field of play in five and eight months respectively. Munster defence coach JP Ferreira stressed both players would have to come through a full training session before satisfying management about their fitness to play in Italy.

“Conor and Les are in the same boat, training well on the pitch,” said Ferreira.

Conor has gone through extensive rehab in getting him physically ready and getting him contact ready. We haven’t made a call on the weekend. He’s just got to get through training. It’s got to be the all-clear for him from us and then obviously the Irish camp has got a big say in that as well.

“Look, with a neck, you can’t take any risks. I’ve been on the side where you have a guy like Julian Redezinghuys, a prop in South Africa who played one game and it almost cost him to be a quadriplegic. You can’t take any risks with neck injuries. Certainly with Conor, you just have to wait out the process and get him strong enough.”

Whereas Joe Schmidt and his management have taken an almost paternal interest in Murray’s welfare, Chris Farrell has been looked after in the main by the Munster backroom team. It’s a process in which Ferreira has taken a very keen interest, though he hasn’t allowed the absence of the towering centre and other key men like him to frustrate him in his role as defensive supremo.

“It’s just part of the job. He’s been in every single video session, I’ve had one-on-ones with Chris where he sits and talks with me and we go through some backline defensive set-ups and things like that. Just through it that way, you get to know the player and the player gets to know you, and it makes transition so much easier going onto the pitch. I did work one game with him against Racing 92 in the U Arena and then he went on to Ireland and got injured in Ireland camp. Certainly in the last year, I have got to know him, especially on the training pitch.

Look, it’s unbelievable, not just for us but it’s for Ireland as well. Having Chris back on the pitch, getting him training, getting him going again, he has such a big stature and character. He is training well but we haven’t made any final calls on him. He has to come through training. The medical staff will give us the picture and Johann will have the call.

“I’ll never forget, he was actually the first guy I met when I walked into the cloaks (cloakroom) at Munster, I looked at him and thought ‘he’s a big lock this guy, we don’t have locks like this in South Africa. And then Garrett (Fitzgerald, Munster CEO) said to me, he’s a centre’. That’s just unbelievable, so his stature is massive for the team. It’ll be a big boost for them to have him back.”

There is no news of an estimated return to action for Tommy O’Donnell, Rhys Marshall, and Dan Goggin, all of whom are still undergoing rehabilitation for injuries sustained in the last month or so.