Murray Kinsella reports from AAMI Park
JOE SCHMIDT DELIVERED a positive injury update on Andrew Conway, Dan Leavy and Cian Healy after all three left the pitch injured during Ireland’s 26-21 win over the Wallabies in Melbourne.
The Wallabies, on the other hand, have lost Will Genia to a broken arm and their head coach, Michael Cheika, indicated that they were unhappy with how the injury had occurred.
Cian Healy made contact with Genia off the ball in the 25th minute and though the Wallabies say they won’t be reporting the incident to the citing commissioner, New Zealander Michael O’Leary, they were clearly not happy with it.
“Well, we ran the play down the front and Willy [Genia]’s the decoy around the back and he got king hit [blindsided] from the side – looked like a shoulder – and when you’re not expecting it, that’s what happens,” said Cheika.
“So Hoops [Michael Hooper] went down the front, Willy ran around the back – I’m not sure who it was from the other team that came in and hit him – and he jammed his arm and broke it.”
Genia will undergo surgery on his arm tomorrow and Cheika also confirmed that second row Adam Coleman had suffered a blow to the face and his involvement in next weekend’s final Test in Sydney is also in doubt.
“Coleman has got a very nice golf ball on the side of his face,” said Cheika.
“We will get him off for some scans and check to see, and we have to do that pretty soon because sometimes if that’s a cheekbone or eye socket he can’t fly, so we’ll just have to check and see where he’s at.”
Ireland’s two-try performance saw them level the series going into next weekend’s final Test in Sydney although victory came at a cost as Schmidt lost three starters to injury in Healy, Conway and Leavy.
Conway departed in the 15th minute, Leavy lasted until half-time and Healy was replaced by Jack McGrath in the second half.
Speaking at AAMI Park after Ireland’s first win on Australian soil in 39 years, Schmidt was optimistic about their potential involvement in the series decider – although Healy may have a second concern with a possible citing.
“Andrew, I’d say he could train fully on Tuesday,” said Schmidt. “He got a hip pointer, just that bruise that’s debilitating at the time but I think over the next 48 hours that will wear itself through and I’d be really confident with Andrew Conway.
“Cian just got a smack on the AC, which again is temporarily debilitating but he could well still be okay.
“Dan got a whack right on the sternum, which again is very uncomfortable but he could have potentially played on and I thought Jordi Murphy came on and did a really good job in his place.
“There were a few other guys we changed with cramp toward the end and that’s probably reflective of the ball-in-play time. There wasn’t a lot of kicking and there was a lot of chasing people around and that made it a real challenge.
“Towards the end there, we had Joey Carbery coming on to replace Devin Toner. I haven’t seen that too many times, luckily we didn’t have to throw him up in the lineout.”
- This article was updated at 4.02pm to change ‘hit’ to ‘made contact with’.
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Sour grapes from Cheika. The knee on Conway was by far the worst incident in the game. Australians are always terrible losers though.
@Jim Demps: so are we to be fair
@domas1507: disagree! By international standards (us, English, Australia) we’re not too bad. Honest about how shite we are when we are if anything
@Jim Demps: Entirely agree… have seen this kind of cynical ‘tackle attempt’ a few times now and it’s clearly not intended to stop the score, but to injure the scorer.
These need to be picked up and sin-binned.
@domas1507: you definitely get off on self flagellation.
@Bruce Van der Gutschmitzer: wrong comment, wrong place.
@domas1507: I never get this. Everyone last week said Australia deserved to win, that they had our number and out played us. We also had justified complaints about some shoddy refereeing, but it wasn’t sour grapes, it’s just another element of the game you can dissect.
@Conor Paddington: some would say complaining about refereeing decisions after you loose, justified or not, is being a bad looser
@Conor Paddington: that’s nonsense, you can rationally dissect a game and be honest whether your team win or lose, and refereeing is a part of that. The ref was bad last week and that is not why Ireland lost amd Australia deserved to win. That is not sour grapes.
@Conor Paddington: I’m not talking about last weeks game exactly. It’s easy be a gracious in defeat when you clearly loose. The sign of a gracious loser is is accepting defeat when you think you should have won. Think ireland v new Zealand in Dublin and a certain French striker for examples of what I mean.
@Jim Demps: the knee? He was legitimately trying to stop a try , he was hardly just going to let him stroll in
@domas1507: @domas1507: well a blatant double handball and determined ignorance of fifa officials is fair enough to critique. Neglecting to give yellows for a knock out shoulder charge and a clothesline would wind you up too. In that case, I’m a sour c¿nt!
@Trevor Reilly: I think he was def trying to injure him… barely laid a hand on him but still dropped the knee into him. Sorry, but for me it was deliberate.
@Bruce Van der Gutschmitzer: don’t be harsh on yourself, you’re just a bad looser
@Jim Demps:
Every country have their whingers and complainers. Australians are no different to ourselves, England, Wales etc.
@domas1507: like true troll resentment feeds me!
@Trevor Reilly: There is nowhere on the field that you are allowed to tackle with the knee. If he was legitimately trying to stop a score why not try to get under the ball with his arms/body?
I like Australia. But they play some highly questionable rugby when it comes to legality. Cheika can do one if he’s going to complain about off-the-ball incidents considering there were a raft of Australian incidents both last and this week.
Cheika can F right off… his players were hitting Irish players off he ball and / or late all evening and getting away with it most of the time!!
Make no mistake. They know that deep down theyll never be able to force Ireland into infringement issues.
I see us getting it done in Sydney. #TeamOfUs
Again some awful referee decision even with TV match officials and touch judges. Hard to understand that they cannot get it right?
I know some will think it’s pedantic but can we stop with this ‘first win in Australia in 39 years’ business it’s not. It’s Ireland’s first away win against Australia. I saw Ireland win in Adelaide 15 years ago.
@Ted Od: first away win against Australia sorry in 39 years.
@Ted Od: it’s pedantic!
That ref was the Pitts … who let him on a pitch…. he was very 2 sided….well take the win .
@Sean Beirne: Two sided? Maybe one side too many? Or not…
Bloody whinging Aussies ( said in an Alf Stewart voice )
It was a shocking challenge
…definitely should be cited