Munster have confirmed they are likely to be without Craig Casey, Jean Kleyn and Thaakir Abrahams for four months, after the trio all underwent surgery last week.
The province had previously confirmed all three were likely to have operations following recent injuries, and it now looks like they will be sidelined until the end of April.
Casey suffered a knee injury in the Champions Cup defeat to Castres earlier this month, and will now miss Ireland's Six Nations campaign, while Abrahams is also out until April due to a dislocated shoulder.
Kleyn missed that game in France with a thing injury, which has also required surgery which will keep him out for up to four months.
In a further blow, centre Alex Nankivell is set to miss a number of weeks with a hamstring injury, which he suffered in the incident that led to Tom O’Toole’s red card in Friday’s 22-19 win against Ulster in Belfast.
"It's very disappointing," defence coach Denis Leamy (below) said.
"It seems like we've had more than our fair share of injuries over the last year to 18 months. But look, it's nothing that we're not used to and we've been in this position before.
"It's very disappointing for the boys, but, we have a very good medical team. We have a really good S&C team and hopefully we'll get them back on the track as quickly as we can.
"But it's next man up and on we go, and we get to show some sort of resilience around us."
On a more pleasing note, Tadhg Beirne returned to training this afternoon after being rested for the win against Ulster, while Leamy is hopeful that Peter O’Mahony, Conor Murray and Diarmuid Barron could be available for Friday’s visit of Leinster, as they get back into training following minor knocks.
"All three were on the training pitch today and we'll just see how that pans out over the next couple of days. But as we sit here right now, all three are very much in our thoughts," he added.
Leinster have dominated this fixture in recent years, winning 13 of the last 15 games between the pair, while Munster’s last win against their rivals at Thomond Park came back in December 2018.
And Leamy, who spent three years working with Leinster between 2019 and 2022, says the URC league leaders will be an incredibly difficult nut to crack this Christmas.
"They are, how would I say, brilliantly boring, and I say that giving them a lot of credit and admiration, but you know, they kick the ball almost more than any other team in the league. They play territory more than any other team in the league.
"They're just brutal when they get into your score zone. They got this power-based game now that is really, really strong, and how you deny them access to that is the key thing.
"They back their defence, they back their kicking game. They don't try to do too much in terms of overplaying, and they just strangle it, put you down into the 22, and then there's big powerful men running down on top of you. And they're a handful," he added.
