Munster's defence coach JP Ferreira has explained the nature of RG Snyman's setback from a serious knee injury.

Snyman was on track to make his first appearance since his debut last August until he suffered an untimely fresh knee issue.

The South African will undergo surgery this week, after which a better prognosis on his latest comeback will be known.

Munster are hopeful that this will only delay the World Cup winner's return to training for a number of weeks.

Ferreira said that while Snyman is devastated with the news, the lock is determined to bounce back.

“He's got his operation in the next week and then the medics will obviously assess him and we will take it from there,” Ferreira explained.

“He was training and rehabilitating, he has done a couple of things with me defensively and then also some agility stuff.

“He was literally just running and he felt something in the knee that wasn't right and then stopped. The doctors assessed him and took him to the specialist.

“That's where we are at with him now. It's not great news, but he has got a strong will and a strong mind, so it's just something that has come along in his path. Hopefully he can get rid of it as soon as possible.

“It is tough on him and he knows it is tough on him as well. I have spoken to him, he is hanging in there to the best that he can.

“I think a guy like Handre Pollard who came back last weekend from a similar injury hasn't made it any easier on him because I know they are good mates. That probably got to him now as well.

“But look, he has got to go through it, he has to hang in there, (we) rather do it this way than getting out on the pitch and playing another seven or nine minutes and getting injured again.

“He just has to hang in there, we are all behind him.”

From a player's perspective, Dave Kilcoyne knows exactly what Snyman is going through having missed a large chunk of this season due to his own injury problems.

“It's gutting for RG,” the Ireland prop admitted.

“He has worked incredibly hard to get to where he is. This is a setback for him but he is a resilient character.

“Even seeing him around the place, he will be all right. The lads rally around him and lift the mood because I am sure he is going to be down for a few days.

“But as I said, he is a resilient character and I'm sure he will bounce back.

“I haven't seen him too much, I think he's up in Santry today. But as you can imagine, it's gutting for any player, coming back from injury and you get these setbacks.

“In the grand scheme of things, he has been out for so long, but this is a minor setback for him.

“He will target this as a window to get more strength and conditioning into him. He was targeting these last few games obviously, but he is just going to have to change his window of when he gets back,” Kilcoyne added.

Meanwhile, academy lock Thomas Ahern (knee) is continuing with his return to training ahead of Friday's Rainbow Cup game at home to Ulster.

Jack Crowley (IRFU 7s training programme), Alex Kendellen (IRFU 7s training programme), Conor Phillips (IRFU 7s training programme), Neil Cronin (knee) and Paddy Patterson (ankle) are all unavailable for the visit of the northern province.