PETER O’MAHONY IS in a race to be fit for Ireland’s opening November Test against New Zealand, with the Munster flanker expected to be sidelined for a number of weeks with a hamstring injury.
O’Mahony has already been ruled out of Munster’s URC clash with Leinster in Croke Park this weekend, and head coach Graham Rowntree says he expects the 35-year-old to return “some time in November”.
Ireland take on the All Blacks at Aviva Stadium on 8 November, before playing Argentina (15 November), Fiji (23rd November) and Australia (30 November).
“I don’t know,” Rowntree said when asked about O’Mahony’s return date.
“November is a few weeks away. It’s not months. We’ve had him scanned, there’s a strain there which he’s never had before. Typical O’Mahony! Weeks, not months, I can see him back in November.”
Meanwhile, Rowntree is hoping to welcome back Mike Haley (leg) for the Leinster game, with Tom Ahern and Alex Nankivell also in the mix to feature at Croke Park.
However Billy Burns is likely to miss out as he continues his recovery from a shoulder injury.
“I’d say Mike will be all right. He got a bit of a bang on his leg but we’ve looked after him,” Rowntree said.
“Billy I’m not so hopeful on, I’ll be honest with you there and I certainly am not going to push it and bring him back when he’s not ready to come back, but the others are certainly back in the mix… Tom Ahern.
“There’s more good news, like we’ve got Rory Scannell, Shane Daly, Paddy Patterson all coming back, in November we’ve got Diarmuid Kilgallen, Liam Coombes, Thaakir Abrahams, even O’Mahony, they’ll be back at some point in November, which is only weeks away.
“So this ‘crisis’, you know, we’ve lost a few bodies but certainly everyone is due to be back on the deck end of November from the recent injuries.
“Roman Salanoa will still be December-ish, but that’s pretty much everyone back on deck within the next few weeks in my mind, and I’ll hang onto that, and I’ve guys back this week and Tom (Ahern) is a big one and Ruadhán (Quinn), who has passed all his HIA protocols.
“But then you pick up Oli Jager at the weekend with his neck, we’re still waiting for more opinions on that. I don’t think we’ll see him until we get back from South Africa (URC rounds five and six).
“Josh Wycherley has got a neck injury as well, Mark Donnelly, suddenly you’re hit in the prop department so we’ll find out a bit about the younger props. We still have two diesel engines doing a great job for us, Steve (Archer) and John Ryan.”
