Jonathan Davies has seen a surgeon who has said there is no need for intervention. It's good news because it could have been longer term. He will probably be available now around Christmas time."
In Davies's absence Gareth Maule and Regan King have formed an impressive midfield partnership and both are set to return for Sunday's testing trip to Cork.
Tavis Knoyle has been released by Wales and will take over from Martin Roberts at scrum-half, but Josh Turnbull and Ron McCusker are amongst those missing.
Munster head into the match with just one league defeat to their name and buoyed by Tuesday night's 15-6 win over Australia at Thomond Park. Victory for Munster will take them seven points, at least, clear of the Scarlets, with the Blues, who entertain Ulser on Sunday, a further point behind.
Meanwhile, on Friday night, the Dragons head for Dublin, to face Leinster, while the Ospreys, who are also languishing in the bottom half of the table, take on Connacht in Galway.
Dragons' outside half Jason Tovey takes his place in a side that will be missing Dan Lydiate, Toby Faletau and Aled Brew, who are all poised to play for Wales against Fiji.
"Like all top European sides they still have a lot of quality players in their squad, but you can't get away from the fact that their Ireland players being away gives us a better chance of the win."
The Ospreys, who have no fewer than 15 players on international duty, are seeking only a fourth win in eight league games this season. They face a Connacht side who, despite starting the season with a bang, find themselves down in 11th place with only 13 points from seven games.
He said: "The group that will be involved on Friday night will include a number of youngsters who maybe haven't been to Galway before, so we thought it would be good to try and replicate as best we could the conditions that they are likely to face out there."
