"I spoke to him following the surgery and he was in a buoyant enough mood given the disappointment of the news. Peter is a pragmatic type person so he's approaching it with a real view of getting himself right for the long term. The surgeon said it was a great success, they had to do a little bit more than they thought, so hopefully now he can start into his rehab.

"I wouldn't want to put a time on his return but it will be a protracted length of time and the key now is that he rehabs it well and doesn't try to fix it too early.”

This weekend sees a total of seven changes from the team that started last Saturday against Toulouse in the Heineken Cup.

BJ Botha is the only front row member retained and will be joined by Duncan Casey and John Ryan. Paul O'Connell is rested this week so Donncha O'Callaghan joins Dave Foley in the second row.

Following on from his man of the match display against Toulouse, CJ Stander starts this week, Sean Dougall returns at open-side, with new captain James Coughlan completing the back row at 8.

JJ Hanrahan joins Murray in the half back partnership, while Keith Earls moves to outside centre in the absence of Casey Laulala who continues to recuperate after sustaining a fractured bone in his right hand and Gerhard van den Heever takes Earls' position on the wing.

Munster team to play Glasgow

Munster: Jones, van den Heever, Earls, Downey, Zebo, Hanrahan, Murray; Ryan, Casey, Botha, O'Callaghan, Foley, Stander, Dougall, Coughlan (C).

Replacements: MacDonald, Kilcoyne, Cotter, Holland, Butler, Williams, Keatley, Murphy.