IRELAND HAVE BEEN dealt a major injury blow ahead of Saturday’s clash against the All Blacks with the news Robbie Henshaw has been ruled out of the remainder of the November series.
Conor Murray, meanwhile, won’t link up with the national squad at Carton House this week, with the IRFU definitively ending talk of the scrum-half making a miraculous comeback from his neck injury against the world champions.
While it was always unlikely Murray would come back into the equation for this weekend’s showdown at the Aviva Stadium [KO 7pm, RTÉ 2/Channel 4], the loss of Henshaw is a significant blow.
The Leinster centre pulled up with a tight hamstring in the warmup ahead of Saturday’s win over Argentina, and despite Joe Schmidt allaying fears over his fitness in the post-match press conference, Henshaw will miss the games against New Zealand and USA.
Henshaw’s injury places even greater importance on the fitness of Garry Ringrose, who sat out Saturday’s Test against the Pumas with a hip knock sustained in Chicago but is due to return to full training tomorrow.
Will Addison, who was impressive on the occasion of his first start after being a late call-up for Henshaw, could also been in the frame to partner Bundee Aki in midfield again.
Murray’s confirmed absence, meanwhile, ends the speculation over whether he’ll play on Saturday or not, after Steve Hansen yesterday insisted he believed the Munster nine would start.
“Robbie Henshaw’s hamstring issue, which saw him replaced by Will Addision just prior to kick-off on Saturday, will rule him out of the remainder of the Guinness Series,” a brief IRFU injury update said.
“Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray is accelerating through his recovery but will not join the squad during the Guinness Series window.”
In addition, there are a number of players being managed at Carton House today but are expected to train fully on Tuesday and Thursday.
Henshaw and Murray join Sean O’Brien on the injured list, after the flanker suffered a broken arm at the weekend.
There was no update on the fitness of Kieran Marmion and Bundee Aki, who both rolled their ankle in the second half of the 28-17 win.
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That’s really disappointing re Henshaw, sort of amusing re Murray… I think we knew that. Anyway, it’s not like Aki coming in at 12 makes us weaker.
@Paddington C.: Fingers crossed on Bundee’s ankle! I’d expect him to be fine
@Paddington C.: Aki makes us slightly weaker i think. Henshaw and Ringrose our a better partnership defensively and offensively because they play together.
@peterw: if Aki not fit we’re screwed!!
We will be fine with Aki and Ringrose in the centres. Hopefully they both last the 80 mins. Not a shock re Murray.
Aki is in great form at the moment and it would have been tight between the two anyway. Great having two quality players fighting for the same position.
Blessing in disguise? It represents a more true picture of how the word cup will be. Depleted numbers in key areas. If we went out with a full team and lost that would duck, if we won then that would be glossing over the issues that these injuries represent. Now we can show what the true depth is and plan accordingly. Best situation, in a way, one year out.
Is it going to be Aki and Ringrose centre partnership
I might have gone for Aki-Ringrose to start anyway, but Henshaw is still a big miss out of that squad
I’d imagine Murray has been injury free for months and there just trying to give him as big a break as possible before the World Cup which makes sense. A Murray injury means any chance of Ireland winning goes with it. Way to big a drop off to the next replacements.
@Eric Djemba-Djemba: Marion and mcg rath did okay I thought on saturday
@Thomas Lyster: Okay is not going to win you a World Cup unfortunately.
@Eric Djemba-Djemba: believe it or not Connor Murray is not the be all and end all of Irish rugby.
@Eric Djemba-Djemba: Fortunately the World Cup isn’t on Saturday.
@Eric Djemba-Djemba: if you believe the Welsh media he is on his way to Racing 92!
@Sam Harms: Its hard to disagree withEric though. If Murray was to miss world cup….. our chances of winning would be so much lower
@Sam Harms: did injury to a key player without an up to standard replacement in the last World Cup teach you nothing.
@Eric Djemba-Djemba: the world cup thought me that Ireland massively under estimated Argentina, which happened again last week with people saying we’d easily beat them etc.
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
@Pete Slattery ✊: UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.
@Pete Slattery ✊: not a massive problem. Mcgrath is more than capable if stepping in.
Ringrose becomes even more important now, a lot of pressure on him. He is our best centre by a long way
I think it’s a good thing that this has been resolved on Monday. With us needing a really accurate performance against NZ, the team can now maximise their training time on the pitch this week instead of humming and hawing over selection.
Hints in this morning’s press that Bundee won’t be available to face NZ either. That being the case, and assuming that Ringrose makes it to play 13, who’ll start 12 – McCloskey?
@David Finn: Addison, most likely.
@David Finn: I’d back McCloskey to do a job. He’d have to play a more restrained offload game but he’d be a handful for Crotty and has massively improved his defence in 2018.
@EK: Would like to see McCloskey but Joe does not rate him as highly as others. Addison looked lively in attack without massive gains on Sat, will need to up his defence work a little.
@Dave Barry: Addison has never played 12 AFAIK
@Dave Barry: Or Ringrose 12 Addison 13
@David Finn: I’d go with Noel Reid.
@David Finn: it won’t matter…can’t beat the AB’s with a make shift centre partnership
I’d imagine that’d mean a partnership of Aki and Ringrose with Addisson on the bench and Larmour missing out altogether (assuming that Aki, Ringrose and RK are all fit).
@Cian Nolan: rumoured that Aki is injured what about a long shot of Larmour at 13, Ringrose at 12
Anyone who thought Joe would parachute Conor Murray in without match practice is only fooling themselves. He may have done it before but if he did I can’t remember. It certainly wasn’t often. While rankings count, this game will be more about measuring where we are from a depth in squad with the WC looming.
Henshaw is a huge loss for Ireland, even with the cover we have at centre I feel he is more crucial than ringrose for Ireland. To think not so long ago we had comments here questioning his ability and that he was too one dimensional
That’s insanity