Munster head coach Clayton McMillan has stressed that out-half Jack Crowley is heeding all of the professional advice needed as he seeks to return from a long-term injury at the turn of the new year.
The Cork man has not played for the province since April's URC victory away to Benetton, missing Ireland's summer tests, and has since been ruled out until the new year following medical advice, the club confirmed last month.
The second-year head coach was effusive in praise of Crowley, who, despite suffering from a peculiar blood vessel injury, is in good spirits and has been ever-present around the pre-season grind.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport at Tuesday's pre-season press conference, McMillan explained the nature of his recovery.
"(Jack is) good. He's in really good spirits, and to look at him physically you wouldn't notice anything different", McMillan said.
"He looks after himself, and the nature of his injury is just that - it's kind of like a narrowing of a (blood) vessel.
"The advice he has been given is that while he's in this recovery state he shouldn't overexert himself just until it sort of opens up and he gets better blood flow through there.
"Being the diligent man that he is, he's not doing a hell of a lot other than just keeping himself in pretty good nick. It's the running that he's probably trying to avoid the most.
"His most recent scan, or every scan that he's taken, has shown an improvement."
Like any coach, the Kiwi is willing to trust the professionals in order to protect Crowley's health and well-being, rather than forcing him into a rushed return, and risk another setback.
He did however offer the warning that if Crowley's recovery needs to be longer than the previous update - which indicated a January return - then they will heed the advice.
"We're really hoping that that timeline around Christmas is where that's going to happen, but the reality is we probably don't truly know until he gets back starting running again and then see what the reaction in his body is like", he added.
"He's probably one of the most diligent guys that I've ever come across, so he's not going to leave any stone unturned. He's not going to push things unnecessarily.
"He'll give himself every opportunity to meet the deadlines and he's the sort of bloke that will just make it happen out of will."
McMillan also revealed that another Cork out-half, 20-year-old Charlie O'Shea, is in line to start in Friday night's final friendly versus Leicester Tigers, as Tom Wood heads for a scan with a shoulder knock, and JJ Hanrahan goes through the concussion return to play protocols.
"He's one of those guys who, if you didn't see his eyes awake, you'd probably think he's asleep", the Munster head coach quipped of Wood.
"He's that sort of relaxed of a character, which is good for him out on the rugby field because he doesn't get flustered by too much.
"He picked up a bang in that internal hit-up the other the other day. It's a reoccurrence of an injury that he just managed conservatively last year. So we'll get that looked at. Hopefully, it's not bad. He's walking around. He's telling us it's fine, but we've got to do our due diligence here."
Tony Butler, who departed the province this summer, has been invited back in to train with the team for the penultimate week of pre-season in light of these knocks.
If Munster are to kick on from a season where they slipped into the Challenge Cup round of 16 and were eliminated at the URC quarter-final stage, all eyes are on the younger cohort to step up and take them to the next level.
Two of the brightest prospects hail from Cobh, with both Edogbo brothers namechecked by McMillan to step up. A consummate professional and a test capped cog, McMillan was at pains to praise older brother Edwin.
After a summer of slimming down, and morphing into a clone of his younger brother Seán, the Munster coach used him as a benchmark for others to strive towards.
"He probably recognised that in his work that he did in the off-season. He didn't take a day off. When everyone else went off on holiday, he was here every day, on the watt bike," McMillan revealed.
"His body composition change is quite phenomenal, actually. It will be for the better. He has dropped, I don't know what it is, maybe 10-15 kilos. He’s still a big man though, he's a big skinnier version of what he was!
"If we can get him out on the field regularly then we know we're going to benefit from that. But again, Tadhg (Beirne) is there, Tom Ahern, he's a big man too, he's got an opportunity. You've got Evan O'Connell, it's time for him to step out of the shadows and into the light now.
"There's a huge amount of young guys in there that I think have got enormous potential, but they've got to actually take the step forward, so the people that do that are the ones that will get rewarded.
"Your potential doesn't get you out there, it's what you produce at training and when you get your opportunity."
