JOE SCHMIDT IS hopeful of having Johnny Sexton available for Ireland’s trip to Rome next weekend but admits he won’t rush the out-half back until he is 100% fit.
Sexton will miss Ireland’s Six Nations opener against Scotland on Saturday after failing to recover from the calf injury he sustained during Leinster’s Champions Cup game in Castres a fortnight ago.
The Ireland head coach has once again had to plan without one of his key players after Sexton missed the tour of South Africa last summer as well as the November Tests against New Zealand and Australia.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference at Carton House this afternoon, Schmidt admitted Sexton’s injury problems are a source of frustration but is confident he’ll come out the other side.
“It’s no greater frustration than for Johnny himself,” Schmidt said.
“He was incredibly motivated for this Six Nations Championship. He’s probably frustrated he did the injury in the first place in Castres and that’s hung over until now.
“He’s probably played about 82 minutes for the national team in the last eight Test matches so for us it’s a real frustration and no different for him.
“In the three Six Nations I’ve been involved in, Johnny has dominated the number 10 position so we’re still hopeful he’ll come in and do that for us but at the same time Paddy [Jackson] has trained really well.
“Paddy played all three Tests in South Africa so it’s not like he hasn’t had really good experience in recent times at a very high level.
“I don’t think there’s many players who don’t go through injury and a bit of bad luck. It was a very minor injury going into the Castres match for Johnny and it just triggered an extension of that injury so for us it’s just about getting him 100% fit before he goes out there.
“It’s a bit like Rob Kearney last year with a series of continuous injuries. He’s been really robust for us this yer. Things tend to ebb and flow a bit and hopefully they’ll flow a bit better in the back half of the championship.”
When asked whether the 31-year-old will come back into contention for the second assignment of the Championship against Conor O’Shea’s Italians, Schmidt said: “Realistically Johnny is an outside chance for Italy.”
A little earlier, Schmidt revealed his hand for the trip to Murrayfield with the Kiwi naming a largely as expected starting XV for the clash against Vern Cotter’s side.
The main talking point was the inclusion of Iain Henderson in the second row alongside Devin Toner but Schmidt’s hand was forced by an injury to Donnacha Ryan.
“He had a niggling medial ligament so he didn’t train last week,” Schmidt said of the Munster man.
“Tuesday was the first time he trained. He’s been super for us in recent times but it really is a tight turnaround and we just had uncertainty around Donnacha.
“We wanted to see how he finished up after training on Tuesday and he came through really well, trained well today as well but we wanted more certainty than that and at the same time Iain here as done a super job for us in the past and Dev has also given us sterling service.”
Henderson’s Ulster team mate Andrew Trimble was another player Schmidt was unwilling to risk with the winger having emerged as a doubt earlier in the week. Keith Earls and Simon Zebo have been named alongside Rob Kearney in the back three.
There was bad news for Peter O’Mahony as he now looks set to miss the opening two weekends of the Six Nations with a hamstring injury.
“Peter is highly unlikely [for Italy],” Schmidt added. “Peter is probably bordering on grade one/grade two with his hamstring. It’s a strain it’s not bad but if we push him back too soon we don’t want to cause further damage.
“We’ll progress him a bit slower which will probably mean the turnaround for Italy would be too tight.
“Andrew Trimble we would be pretty confident. Again it’s more of a niggle not anything serious but it would be a fine line this weekend and again we don’t want someone going out and coming off in the first 15/20 minutes.”
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This is a brilliant camogie match
Well my issue is the Cork goal was a free out ,she threw it into the net ,attempted to strike but missed and the ball ended up in the net from her hand …
@Gerry Campbell: really difficult to see in real time.
@WqM9AAv3: True ,I’m just thick now ,I’ll be grand in a bit .
@Gerry Campbell: You’d be entitled to be a bit upset if you’re a Galway man, big disappointments this year.
@Michael Burke: Ah I’m over it Michael ,small stuff in fairness with all that’s going on in the world ..
Comments closed due to not being allowed to say anything critical about Israel. Thank you The Journal
@Stanley darsh: Whydo Irish people only care about Israel? Ye stay silent about all the other atrocities happening but are constantly talking about Israel?
@Stanley darsh: the hamas fellas were hiding in the school, always using the people as a shield. The people were also well aware hamas were around.
@tbEE5DMm: yeah it’s not fair that Gaza is the only genocide getting attention. Why isn’t anyone paying attention to other massacres around the world. I guess it’s the Anti Semitism which is on the rise all over the world for some reason.
@Sean Money: Yeah also Hamas forced the Israeli soldiers to R*** the Palestinian Prisoners is the Israeli jails.
@Sean Money: Hamas also made the Israeli soldiers commit a Seckual a$sault against the Palestinian prisoners.
@tbEE5DMm: unfortunately Tom the tv told them to
@tbEE5DMm: why does Tom Walsh only care about all the other atrocities and not Israel’s one
@anthony davoren: I care about all of them
@tbEE5DMm: who cares about Palestine or Israel. doesn’t affect us one bit. no respect for armchair humanitarian. if you really care, go out there and support them.
@Sean Money: How do you know that the people were aware that Hamas were amongst them? You’re inferring that the victims are in some way responsible for being slaughtered. Given that Gaza has been flattened, that huge numbers of Palestinians have been forcibly removed from their homes and that there are so many no go areas for the Palestinian population what exactly do you suggest that those innocent victims should have done?
Well done Cork banks of the lee