IRELAND HEAD COACH Andy Farrell says centre Robbie Henshaw will be sidelined for at least a couple of weeks after injuring his hamstring at the World Cup.
The Leinster man was ruled out of Ireland’s opener against Romania with the hamstring issue but returned to feature off the bench against Tonga and South Africa.
However, he has now injured his hamstring again and will miss this weekend’s clash with Scotland.
“He pulled up with a hamstring unfortunately at the end of the session on Tuesday and the diagnosis with hamstrings, they want to see how things settle down and it probably takes about five days for that type of thing to happen but it looks like it could be a minimum of a couple of weeks at this stage,” said Ireland boss Andy Farrell today.
Asked if Ireland will consider replacing Henshaw with an injury call-up, Farrell said they will take a few days to consider things.
“We’ll assess that as we go, certainly he’ll be around, rehabbing and we’ll see how the weekend goes with other injuries, etc. and we’ll assess how Robbie’s going along the way also,” said Farrell.
Of course, Ireland need to secure their quarter-final place, with a huge game against Scotland to come on Saturday.
Farrell confirmed two changes to his starting XV with Dan Sheehan and Iain Henderson coming into the team, the latter in place of James Ryan, who drops to the bench.
“He is, he’s fit,” said Farrell of Ryan. “He had a bit of a niggle on a wrist but that’s fine and he trained the house down, actually trained the best I’ve seen him in train in a good amount of years yesterday.
“He actually nearly took Johnny’s head off three or four times so he’s fit and raring to go, there’s no doubt.”
Jack Conan comes onto the Irish bench after recovering from his foot injury, while Stuart McCloskey is set for his World Cup debut after replacing Henshaw at number 23.
“He’s been excellent, as has everyone else that’s not played as much game time as they’d possibly have wished for,” said Farrell of McCloskey.
“His attitude has been top-drawer, the message to those guys has been all along that you’ve got to be ready and your attitude has got to prove that, day in, day out.
“It certainly has as far as everyone’s concerned, Stu is one of those who is ready to slot in and is ready to slot in.”
Gavin coombes must feel even more bitter right now. Bringing an injured 2nd choice 8
@Gary Galligan: Just shows how good Conan is that he inspires that much faith in the coaching staff.
@Gary Galligan: i am sure coombes is preparing for his possible call up and working on the things he was told to work on in order to be picked in the future…and he will leave the bitterness to those more qualified in that behaviour…
@Gary Galligan: he’s from the wrong province so won’t be considered…..
@Patrick Kennedy: Prendergast is next in line I’d say. Not that I agree with it necessarily, but with Prendergast getting a chance in the warm up at #8, he had to be next in the pecking order i would imagine.
@Mark Murphy: either way, it looks like we’ll be we’ll stocked at 8 for a few years to come.
@Mark Murphy: looks like it alright, but backrow is very attritional so coombes had better be ready…and if he’s not called up then at least he can hit the ground running once the munster season kicks into gear
@Philyclever@eircom.net: It is disgraceful the way the IRFU coaching staff are all former Leinster players, isn’t it? How’s a Munster man supposed to get a look in with Kildare’s Paul O’Connell on the staff.
@Philyclever@eircom.net: he got a good lesson on Friday in Cork from max deagan.
@Gary Galligan: Would love to see him slamming tries from 5 metres but AF hates him, he’ll be waiting until the next cycle. He’s literally done everything you could possibly want from a classic 8 point of view.
@chris mcdonnell: You mean where he played in the second row?
Would think that Prendergast is the next cab off the rank
@Kevin Ryan: yep, ahead of Coombes. May not be quite as dynamic carrying, but much greater range, link play and lineout threat…
@Sea Point: cant say id agree with you there. Coombes has far better hands.
@Kevin Ryan: wHaT aBoUt GaViN cOoMbEs?
@Andrew Martin Farrell: I’m just commenting on who is likely to be called up. Andrew David Farrell must think Cian P a better fit as he played him against England while Coombes released earlier.
@Sea Point: Dunno, They’re both pretty versatile, but in different directions, dont see CP as an 8 really, versatile back rower more of 7, Coombes versatile back roweer but more of 6, 5, 4 (for which we’re pretty comfortable). Coombes has never had a look even when he was the top try scorer in the league for his team. Farrell definitely prefers the energy CP brings, depends on what he wants but he really doesn’t like GC.
That’s concerning.
Also not great for Doris as he has to play every week!
Please don’t flog Doris for another week. He’s had so many minutes recently. There isn’t many other options, Berine can play 8 but he’s played loads recently too
@Andrew Slazenger: You’re certainly not wrong! No8 v Tonga is going to be a physical drain and both Beirne and Doris have 80s in 35C+ on their clocks. Conan would definitely have started if fit, so having the extra back in the squad with nothing to do looks rather silly. Guessing best option is 40mins each for Doris and Beirne, Hendy and McCarthy at lock (Ryan on bench)
@Andrew Slazenger: I don’t really get this idea that Doris has been ‘flogged’. He’s played in the (4?) warm-up games but, like many of the other Leinster guys, not much else since the 6N. Isn’t that just a fraction of what Will Skelton has been doing and generally against much lower quality opposition in the summer?
Meanwhile, we seem to have backs that are not going to figure holding up slots on the 33 .. given the fixture sequence and injury-carrying profile (4 forwards with knocks), was 18-15 the right mix? With 19 forwards, Prendergast would be starting Saturday if Conan wasn’t fit.
@John Morris: This way we got to rest any 3 of Keenan, Hansen, Lowe, Ringrose, Aki, all of whom are crucial to how we play, they prioritised those players over the forwards, it was one or the other
@Robert O’Connor: Like the way we got to rest any 3 of the above in our easiest match? And if you think any 3 of that group are going to be rested in any of the remaining matches then I’m not sure what page you’re on!