Munster's South African contingent face a 10-day quarantine period upon their arrival in Ireland.
After their two scheduled United Rugby Championship clashes were postponed over concerns around the new Covid-19 Omicron variant in the country, Munster were still in South Africa on Friday.
And as concerns grow worldwide, the Irish government have introduced strict home quarantine for arrivals from South Africa as well as several African countries where the variant has been detected.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly confirmed on Friday that there will be no exceptions to the new measure, meaning that Munster's 33-strong contingent will be required to isolate for ten days and take two PCR tests during that time.
With the two URC fixtures now postponed, attention turns to Johann van Graan's side's European Champions Cup clash with Wasps at the Ricoh Arena on December 12 as the province face a race to return to Ireland and assemble a side for the game.
Fellow URC sides Zebre, Scarlets and Cardiff all find themselves in similar circumstances in South Africa as the league said earlier on Friday that it is working with the four travelling clubs “to facilitate their return as soon as possible”.
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