British and Irish Lions receive Conor Murray boost

Ireland international Conor Murray is all set to return to his club Munster after recovering from a shoulder-related nerve injury.

The 28-year-old last played during the penultimate round of Six Nations tournament against Wales and had to remain on the sidelines since then.

Munster are scheduled to take on Connacht on Saturday's Pro 12 clash and if Murray fails to appear in the encounter, he will get another opportunity in the semi-final at Thomond Park on 20th May to prove his fitness to Lions head coach Warren Gatland before the 41-man squad departs to New Zealand for a gruelling 10-game tour.

"I'm good, finally. I've been training with the lads for the last couple of weeks and trained on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week," Murray told Irish media on Thursday.

"I've been doing gradual return-to-play contact and yesterday (Wednesday) I did full contact, tackling people and taking proper hits, getting tackled myself and feeling pretty good.

"Hopefully I'll be playing really soon. Potentially I'll be involved this weekend, we'll wait and see how we go. It's pretty positive.

"I would put a good bet on being back for the semi-final. With the way I've been progressing over the last couple of weeks, it would suggest that I'm ready to play."

Murray had to miss the final round of Six Nations 2017 where Ireland ended 18-match winning streak of England and was also sidelined for the European Champions Cup semi-final where Munster lost to Saracens. Highlighting the nature of his injury, Murray feels lucky to be in contention for the Lions tour.

"Initially we thought I'd be back a lot sooner and with the uncertainty around the nerve injury, I was pretty worried," Murray said.

"A nerve injury is not like a muscle injury where you're told you'll be back in four weeks and you're back in four weeks. It's a little bit of an unknown.

"Nerves are sensitive, they can come back in a week or can take six or seven weeks, or they can take longer. Thankfully I'm at a stage where my strength is back."

Gatland also announced on Thursday that Wales duo of Sam Warburton and Alun Wyn Jones are on course of regaining full fitness before the New Zealand tour.