CONNACHT’S INJURY CRISIS has escalated again this week with loosehead Denis Buckley ruled out for the next two months because of an ankle injury.
Buckley will undergo surgery on his high ankle sprain tomorrow and is now unlikely to feature in Joe Schmidt’s Ireland training squad, which he was expected to be named in.
Buckley injured the ankle during Connacht’s win over Munster at Thomond Park, but had hoped that his absence would be limited to a few weeks of rehab, but the province have now elected to sort the injury with surgery.
As a result of the injury Connacht have now de-registered Buckley from their Challenge Cup squad and handed a call-up to Georgian native and Athlone raised academy tighthead Saba Meunargia.
“Denis Buckley his recovery has not progressed as it should be so he is going in for ankle surgery tomorrow. So we expect Denis to be gone for up eight weeks,” said coach Pat Lam.
“We’ve used up our last spot of a front-row option so Saba Meniugara has come in for Denis into our European squad.”
Centre Dave McSharry is also definitely out of Sunday’s Challenge Cup trip to Newcastle after he picked up a concussion in last weekend’s win over the Falcons at the Sportsground.
Tiernan O’Halloran was a late withdrawal from that game due to a quad injury and will be assessed as the week goes on as to his availability for the weekend, while winger Matt Healy is also in the same boat due to a calf haematoma.
Craig Ronaldson, Andrew Browne, Eoghan Masterson, Api Pewhairangi and Jake Heenan all returned to training this week, but neither Pewhairangi nor Heenan are registered to play in Europe.
He’s not as disappointed as some on relation to how far off they are? They are miles off. No offence to Munster but they are an average,though very gutsy and committed side,and they have hammers Leinster twice in a row now. I do agree that they haven’t had any continuity with combinations,especially from 9-13,and hopefully when the likes of OBrien, Healy, Moore, Teo, McFadden etc come back then there will be a big improvement.
I must take the opportunity to praise Matt O’Connor for the huge improvement in Guinness Pro12 teams. Ever since he arrived at Leinster, every other team has greatly improved. Teams, that two years ago were almost brushed aside by Leinster, have now reached the heights that Leinster once inhabited alone.
Treviso have improved, Munster have improved, Edinburgh have improved, Scarlets have improved, Dragons have improved, Zebra have improved, Connacht (brilliant tonight, by the way) have improved..
In fact, they have all improved so much that Leinster has great difficulty taking on any of them.
By extension, Wasps and Harlequins have shown just how brilliant they are too due to you Matt.
I can hardly wait to see how much Castres get better when they arrive at the RDS soon. They will build statues in your image all over the town.
Matt, you have done European rugby a great service. They have all reached and surpassed Leinster this season thanks to your input at Leinster and everywhere else.
Thank you Matt and Happy New year!.
(and also to Mr Caputo, the news paper seller. Your influence on all other teams has been exceptional)