Murray, 29, has not played since the series-clinching third Test win over Australia in Sydney on June 23 and having been injured in pre-season he is understood to have targeted his comeback in one of those Ireland home games.

Yet, asked if it would be a surprise if he was named in Schmidt’s squad this week, his Munster head coach van Graan replied: “It would, because he is still a bit off being ready but Joe’s and David (Nucifora)’s communication has been fantastic to me since the day that I arrived.

“We are all very aligned and I believe so are all the provinces. That’s fantastic about Irish rugby. Everybody just wants the best for Conor so whenever the medical staff clears him we’ll all be on the same page.”

Asked whether Murray would benefit from an extra month’s recovery during the international window rather than Test-match rugby, van Graan added: “I don’t want to speculate on what’s the best for him.

We are led by our medical team. Obviously, Conor wants to play, he is the most important, but he also knows his body and he is very important for Munster and very important for Ireland, so we’ll keep doing the best we can for him.

Munster are preparing to face Glasgow Warriors at Thomond Park on Saturday when their Guinness PRO14 campaign resumes following two weeks of Heineken Champions Cup action that have cost the province in terms of injuries if not points after a draw at Exeter Chiefs and last Saturday’s bonus-point win over Gloucester.

They will also have to do without several of their frontline internationals under IRFU player-welfare management protocols, adding up to a possible loss of 20 players or so from van Graan’s selection pool for the visit of their Conference A leaders.

There are several areas of concern in terms of numbers, with resources stretched at hooker, centre and in the back-row following Saturday’s loss of Rhys Marshall (hamstring), Dan Goggin (knee) and Tommy O’Donnell (ankle) to serious-looking injuries.

All three underwent scans yesterday to determine their severity but the Munster boss was at least able to share some relatively positive news on openside flanker O’Donnell’s problem, which saw him leave the field on a stretcher before half-time and go straight to hospital for X-rays.

“The medical team feared he had a broken leg but he doesn’t. It’s great news. We take that as a big positive. Medical staff looked at what happened after the game and the pain and how they took him off.

“It’s brilliant news. Yet, the damage will be significant.

Anything positive I get now is great. You just look at our loose forwards at this stage: Tommy is out, Jack O’Donoghue out, Dave O’Callaghan out, Conor Oliver out, Arno (Botha, thumb) possibly, and then Pete (O’Mahony) and CJ (Stander) and Tadhg (Beirne) possibly going to Ireland, leaves us really thin.

The good news for Munster is that Ireland wing Keith Earls could be in contention this weekend after missing both European pool games with a hamstring problem that forced him out of the warm-up at Exeter Chiefs.

Similarly, Tyler Bleyendaal could be poised for a first-team comeback this weekend. The Irish-qualified New Zealander has not played since facing Glasgow last February when he suffered a neck injury. Bleyendaal, though, may have to join the back of the queue of frustrated fly-halves, JJ Hanrahan, Ian Keatley and Bill Johnston, looking to grab their chance in the likely event of Joey Carbery sitting out his first game since joining from Leinster this summer.

“We’ll do what we believe is the best for Tyler, gradually bring him back.

“He’s training well, putting a bit of lead into his legs, we are putting him through his paces but we’ve also got Keats and JJ and Bill and over the next two weeks we’ll make a few changes to the team.

“One of the things that I’ve learned from previous coaches at Munster is that especially after a European block, you are going to lose guys and you also need to freshen up your team because of the emotion of the weeks.

“And we’ve got to fly to South Africa next Monday (to play the Cheetahs on November 4). So yes, Tyler might get some game time as we look to freshen it up over the next two weeks.”