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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First Henshaw now Carty great to see some Athlone lads starting to make a breakthrough
Best of luck to Jack Carthy, great to see Connacht fielding a young, all Irish back line.
Would love to see Jordi have a great game at 7 and get into 6 nations contention to fill the gap left by SOB. Will also be keeping a close eye on Henry and Tommy O’ D tonight
C’mon Connacht.
Exciting game ahead. Leinster will be scratching after last yrs result but Connacht will meet ye more than half way!!!!
FYI. You have only listed 14 starting players for Leinster. Devon Toner has become a one-man machine in the second row…
Scratch that, you have added Tom Denton.
I have. He just about caught the bus. Cheers.
Tom Denton catching something? What’s seldom is wonderful
Kirchner on the wing, hopefully he’ll spark some exciting back plays.
Murphy at 7 puts even more pressure on Henry and o’donnell
He’s only back from injury but I really liked the work rate and professionalism of o donnell last year! I think at the moment if have him and murphy ahead of Henry in the long run
I’d rather go to a funeral than watch a rugby match
In that case shouldn’t you read an obituary column instead of an article on rugby?
Paulie I’d say you depress everyone at a funeral
Give it to him Lizzy!
Right in his Walnuts!
Haha, if I thought he had some Robby I would but my guess is he’s all mouth and no trousers ;)
Nicely put Elizabeth, well said!
There something wrong in the system when the IRFU won’t give the appropriate funds to a team who funds an all irish backline but prefers to spend money on big name signings to boost another provinces profile. Then they are wondering why they are not unearthing players to fill the roles of the retiring legends of the last few years? Connacht could be a good conveyor belt for Ireland in areas that are been missed, just look at Athlone.
Both Munster and Leinster are producing massive amounts of Irish players and ulster have brought some through too. To say spending money on overseas players is a waste is just wrong.
Players like Isa and rocky done so much for Leinster
As did dougie and him Williams for Munster and all these young ulster backs
I assume you’re referring to the same Connacht who are the only province not restricted by the IRFU’s stringent new rules on overseas recruitment & who boast more overseas players in their squad than any other province? Change the record. We’ve all heard this tune before
Del. We have relatively few non-Irish players and more and more of our squad is IQ. In face more and more of our squad is Connacht academy.
The reason why Connacht is not bound by the overseas rule is because the IRFU implicitly want Connacht to be a development province. They are not explicit about it because it annoys everyone here but that is the reason. Hence Connacht IQ players can be moved to other provinces and they are told to shop abroad.
The first example of this was Macca. Granted Connacht did well to bring Clarke in, but it will not always work out that like.
Personally I would much prefer Connacht to be properly funded and have the same rules apply to us as the rest of the provinces.