JOE SCHMIDT SAYS he is quietly confident Robbie Henshaw will be fit to play Romania in London on Sunday, 27 September, after the Connacht man was ruled out of this weekend’s World Cup clash with Canada.
The 22-year-old suffered a hamstring strain at the end of Ireland’s training session at Carton House on Tuesday.
The injury is not expected to keep Henshaw out for more than a week, however, with Schmidt saying that he “would like to think” that the centre will face Romania.
“Robbie right at the end of training on Tuesday felt his hamstring tighten a little bit,” said Schmidt at Ireland’s team hotel in Cardiff this afternoon.
We got it scanned, there’s a little bit of blood there. He’s ok to walk and jog around, but he does feel that tightness when he’s accelerating and therefore it would be a real risk to push him ahead. We’d be quietly confident that he should be ok by next Sunday.”
Luke Fitzgerald is the man to benefit from Henshaw’s absence, starting in the 12 shirt for Ireland alongside Jared Payne.
The Leinster man has played at inside centre for province and country before, and Schmidt has no doubt Fitzgerald will perform there against the Canadians. Still, Darren Cave will count himself unlucky to miss out on selection.
It’s ironic, because this time four years ago he was starting at 12 for Leinster,” said Schmidt of Fitzgerald.
“He’s had a fair bit of game time, for me, at 12 and we’ve got a lot of confidence in him playing 12 or 13. Obviously he’s already played 13 for us in the pre-World Cup Test matches and we felt that he did pretty well there and has earned himself another opportunity.”
Scrum-half Conor Murray is excited to see Fitzgerald lining out as part of Ireland’s backline for the tournament opener, pointing out that he will bring his own strengths to the inside centre role.
“Yeah he definitely can,” said Murray when asked if Fitzgerald can shine at 12. “He can play in a number of different positions and he’ll bring his own style of game to the table as well.
He can slot into our formation seamlessly, so he’s a flair player, a very exciting player and I’m looking forward to playing with him.
“He’s played an awful lot with Johnny, and Lukey is a playmaker as well, so that will be another string to our bow come Saturday.”
This article was updated at 18.10 to include the quotes from Conor Murray and correct the date of the Romania game.
A lot of confidence in Luke… None in Cave…
Luke is a Lions’ test starter, grand slam winning starter and multiple Heineken Cup winner. I’d like to think Joe’s faith is warranted.
Luke is a can’t pass won’t pass kinda guy, runs away from support and basically couldn’t find the try line if it was 40 yards long with a big thick white line painted in between two flags
I trust joe but seriously don’t understand this selection.
And not a test 12
There is no question of Lukes pedigree… But it has been a long time since he played 12. Cave is a specialist 12 that seems to have good form about him and has been over-looked by a centre-come-winger-come-centre…. You’d have to wonder….
Maybe he’s playing Luke hoping his injury record will tip him on the shoulder so he can call Trimble up
OK Philip, we get it, you’re not happy with Fitzgerald starting.
There are those at home and on the sideline whose form deserve the opportunities that Luke is getting. That being said really hope Luke finds form for Ireland because all his form time date has been in the past.
Why are achievements from 2009 of any sort of relevance, Lapmo? Luke Fitzgerald was a very good player at the end of the last decade but got a string of series injuries, played next to no rugby for 2 years and has been in the international wilderness for the best part of 4 years after being considered not good enough for even of the squad of the last world cup.
I feel like we’re dredging up ancient history even discussing Luke Fitzgerald playing for Ireland in 2015, it’s bizarre.
Brilliantly put. He’d chronic is all I have to add
Philip, you’re mistaking him with Earls.
Haters gonna Hate! Wise up will ye and have faith in a coach who’s won 2 European Cups, Amlin Cup and 2 6 nations.. Reckon he may know just a little more all of us put together!
Marc:
Do you dwell in a cave or rest your head under a bridge at night?
Is there a Mrs Troll?
Is there a mistress Troll?
Maybe it’s a Mr Troll? (It is a new age after all)
Have you any baby Trolls?
How much is the Troll poll?
Say all you want, Lukey is starting. Damn well deserved too. Brilliant form last few matches. Great try.
Fitzy! Fitzy! Fitzy!
Seriously Philip.. Grow up and act your age.. How old are you anyway? A bigger troll I’ve never met.. You epitomize the word, with your venomous sly anti Leinster comments (My ass you’re a Connacht fan!) , you hadn’t even heard the word ‘troll’ till me and others started calling you one, now constantly you use your silly little poem.. Grow up u child! You take pleasure constantly criticizing Fitz and Leinster support our coach and team and stop your trolling.. Haven’t you got a real job!
Did I touch a nerve
What was that lads? ‘Not a test 12′, ‘chronic’, ‘can’t pass’?
Don’t question Joe.
Maybe put mccloskey on standby for Robbie, pity his not there he could really make an impact for us if called on.
I’d have to disagree there, McCloskey needs matches in an Ulster shirt not a weight of expectation being thrown on him by putting him in an Ireland jersey too early. McClosky has 20 caps for Ulster compared with Henshaw who has 60 for Connacht and been a part of the Irish setup since he was 19 before having his first Irish cap at 21.
He looks like the real deal and the idea of him at 12 freeing Henshaw to play 13 is an mouth watering prospect going forward. But he needs much more game time if he’s to improve and become the player we all want him to be.
I’m a fan of if you’re good enough you’re old enough but I get what you mean. I think Robbie will do us all proud when fit, I meant more that cave our supposed specialist 12 isn’t being used, fitzgerald is not an established 12 for his province so having mccloskey there who is in a similar mould to Henshaw in case of injury makes sense to me especially against Canada for example.
Would say the plan was to have Cave in the Romania match to give Henshaw a break but that got upset and now he’ll possibly see time in the Italy match instead
I always thought Cave played 13 for Ulster
My guess is Henshaw and Cave in the Romania game, with Payne rested.
Solid thinking David Davidson. Solid name too.
I don’t think Cave was on the cards for this match. Instead one from Earls, Fitzgerald and Zebo would likely have missed out in the event of Henshaw’s fitness. I don’t think this is so much a case of Fitgerald being picked ahead of Cave than Zebo being picked ahead of him on the bench, and that’s no surprise really.
But if Schmidt is happy to put Luke at 12 then presumably it was always the plan for him to at least feature.
I’m a fan if your good enough your old enough. How many caps did Robbie have at Connacht by his first Irish cap? The mentality of young players at Ulster having to know their place is a culture that I am hoping Kiss will do away with because it is not creating competition for places.
jeez lads any chance of giving it a f00kin rest and just support the team. You’ve all commented on every story featuring Fitz since he came back. We KNOW OK??
Agreed. its the world cup. I wish all these negative a – holes would bugger off and support Wales instead.
No
You’ll prob find the negative commenters are people who have only ever watched sport at any kind of a decent level.
One or two of them prob trained with the JCT team or played Junior b football back in the day but were never any good which is why they rarely have anything good to say about anyone else. It’s how they deal with having never been selected for anything themselves.
What’s a JCT team or junior b football?
seriously Christian I respect you but we’re there now. Mc Closkey will be nailed in in 4yrs. Cave will shine. .. #shouldertoshoulder
Exactly, McCloskey is not ready. He’s better off at Ulster getting game time. He’s time will come with Ireland but not at this world cup
His
Whether or not a player is ready depends on opportunity through injury at any level. Was Conor Murray given his opportunity at the RWC because of injury?
No, Murray played his way into the squad. He was with the team training for the world cup and also was capped before the world cup.
past form seems to out weigh current form in irish rugby more than any nation. can’t imagine the abs selecting a fella who played well 5 years ago… that’s a general comment rather than directly pointed at fitz…
So Tommy Bowe was dropped on past form rather than current form? Or Henderson, how did he make it into the 15? Or Dave Kearney, definitely going on form. Along with Earls, had been s**te for about two seasons, but had a good run of form last season and it’s continued, who saw him back in the 15? Who in this team is not on form?
Fitz for one
Jarred Payne two, has shown no form at 13, cave on the other hand has been very exciting.
Zebo three, apart from his 3 try’s against North Hampton a few years ago I’ve mostly just seen him run down blind alleys and kick the ball away.
But as I said it was more of a general comment, for a lot of years it was harder to get off the team than on it…in my opinion…
I don’t think anybody is going to be all happy with the team selection to be honest. Upset about one or another player. The fact is, Schmidt knows how to put a game plan together and that’s what wins matches.
Jared Payne? Has been too busy making tackles and keeping himself busy chasing kicks to hogging the spotlight with feats of twinkle toes.
happy with the team but how is Fitz on the squad
Because the coach picked him?
I would’ve picked Cave, don’t get me wrong. But Joe can pick whoever he wants.
The thing I can’t get my head around is- If you’re not going to play Cave, why not pick somebody else? Why not bring Trimble? Why not bring a Kilcoyne?
Joe said he brought Cave because the midfield was too manufactured, so why do MORE manufacturing? My fear is he’s now saving Cave because Henshaw is in worse shape than he’s letting on. I sincerely hope that’s not the case. With any luck it’s more to do with structuring game time they had already planned for Cave.
Hope your right because if there are any more injuries to the centres and McCloskeys form keeps improving. Unlikely as it seems he may get a similar introduction as Conor Murray did.
I reckon if Henshaw goes, then Cave and Payne will play for the big games.
He needs to plan for 4 games with the team in top form against Italy and France.
Weird all this Fitz talk.. He’s been pretty solid in his last few outings, his only real mistake not finding touch against Scotland. He’s looked pretty sharp also, nearly always making ground carrying the ball, great work rate; think he’s solid defensively for the centre.
I think this whole business started because of media coverage on him and how everyone was bigging him up and saying he has amazing potential, so in the end if he doesn’t play amazing and set the stage on fire people tend to be a bit reactionary. I dunno, weird..
Very well said. Fitz could probably do without the media attention so that he can quietly get on with improving his form.