O’Mahony was withdrawn in the 73rd minute of his side’s hard-fought 14-12 win at Scotstoun, which secured Munster’s place in the quarter-finals for the first time in three seasons. The Ireland flanker will now have to complete World Rugby’s return to play protocols if he is to be allowed to face French champions Racing 92 at Thomond Park this Saturday.

Munster officials yesterday were participating in an information gathering process with competition organisers EPCR into the timeline of events and decision-making processes surrounding Murray’s second-half head injury.

The independent UIRG panel will convene, possibly today, to look into Munster’s management of Murray, who clashed heads as he tackled Glasgow lock Tim Swinson, immediately falling to the ground.

The Ireland scrum-half received treatment on the field but was allowed to continue playing until referee Luke Pearce was advised minutes later by TMO Graham Hughes that Murray needed to go for an HIA following another heavy contact in a tackle, this time with Josh Strauss.

The player returned to the field five and a half minutes later and finished the game but the events will now be reviewed in much the same way World Rugby and the RFU conducted a Concussion Management Review Group Report into Northampton’s handling on December 3 of a head injury incident involving George North.

There are no indications of the possible outcomes from the UIRG. EPCR’s Medical Advisory Group having adopted World Rugby’s new head injury protocols last month.

Munster are also waiting on a fitness report on Simon Zebo after the full-back suffered a dead leg in the build-up to Francis Saili’s game-winning try in the 72nd minute. Zebo was replaced at the same time as O’Mahony and the Munster medics are waiting on the problem to settle to review the extent of the injury.

Pool 1 may have been won but Rassie Erasmus has warned his Munster players they still have a job to finish in Champions Cup qualifying as they begin preparations for the visit of Racing 92 to Thomond Park this Saturday. The focus has now switched to securing the home quarter-final draw that will considerably boost their prospects of progressing to a record 12th European semi-final.

That will mean beating Racing at Thomond Park on Saturday, with director of rugby Erasmus looking to park the celebrations and knuckle down to gaining home advantage in the last eight.

“One of the targets was to win more games than we did last year. I think Axel will be so proud tonight, you know, that we actually went through and we won the pool. We’ll start on Monday and see how far we can get now.”

Racing may be down and out in Europe as far as qualification is concerned but their 34-3 home win over Leicester Tigers on Saturday night restored some pride to the French champions as they secured their first points of the campaign and Erasmus is preparing his players for a tough test in Limerick.

“We must work really hard if we are to beat Racing,” Erasmus added, before crediting his players’ resolve in shutting down an attack-minded Glasgow side but calling for improvements from a performance he said was only up to “50 to 60%” of Munster’s tactical potential but “100% maximising our guts.”

“The defence was good but I thought our breakdown wasn’t great at stages,” he said. “I thought our tactical kicking wasn’t great and I thought when we did get into their half we didn’t get the points when we were there. We were there four or five times in the first-half and we only got six points.

“When the big moments are there, you don’t get a lot of chances and in the quarter-finals again you will only get a few moments so when you get there you can’t come away without three, five or seven points. So those big moments in this game almost cost us.”

This story first appeared in the [url=http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/rugby/munster-handling-of-conor-murray-faces-scrutiny-439320.htmlIrish Examiner[/url]