Dan Sheehan and James Lowe will fly to Portugal on Sunday morning to link up with interim head coach Simon Easterby’s Ireland squad having played for Leinster in the United Rugby Championship (URC) match against the Stormers at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday (5.0). Will Connors is back for the province after injury while a decision on the availability of James Culhane and Liam Turner will be taken later in the week.
Sheehan has made a remarkable recovery from his ACL injury that he sustained while playing for Ireland against South Africa in the first Test at Loftus Versfeld during the summer.
The 26-year-old hooker and left wing Lowe have been afforded the opportunity to get some match minutes before linking up with the Irish squad who are based in Portugal until the middle of next week in the build-up to the opening Six Nations match against England on Saturday week.
Lowe has recovered from a calf issue that kept him sidelined since Ireland’s victory over Australia in November, one of three games he played in that series. His last game for Leinster was against the Lions in October. Rabah Slimani is currently with the French squad but will be back for Leinster’s clash with the Stormers.
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Leinster and Ireland squad members Jack Boyle and Ciarán Frawley may also play for the Irish province on Saturday before taking that Sunday flight to Portugal. Uncapped prop Boyle’s last game was against Munster on December 27th so he’d benefit from game time.
In terms of loosehead prop stocks Andrew Porter and Cian Healy will fly out with the bulk of the Irish squad, Michael Milne is injured while Alex Usanov is away with the Ireland under-20s squad to whom Leinster are also bulk suppliers. Paddy McCarthy, younger brother of Joe, may make the matchday squad for the Stormers game.
Frawley has made five appearances for Leinster this season but since starting at fullback in the opening Champions Cup game against Bristol on December 8th has played only 20 minutes and that was against La Rochelle a fortnight ago. It seems a reasonable accommodation.
Sheehan’s return is a huge fillip for province and country, and he’ll benefit from what is likely to be a hugely physical game with a Springbok endowed Stormers team at the weekend. Leinster forwards coach Robin McBryde said: “He’s clearly got attributes outside of the set piece, his footballing ability around the field; he really is the modern-day rugby hooker.
“He’s got a good arm, his scrummaging is not an issue but away from the set piece, you can see his footwork especially in the wide channels, with those attributes, he comes into his own.
“But I have to say in the same sentence, the same breath that Rónan Kelleher is playing some of his best rugby. Somebody gets injured, somebody gets an opportunity, but it will be great to see Dan back.
“It’s never a good time to have an injury and the seriousness of Dan’s as well, so I know he’s been fighting to get back as quickly as possible. When the team is going well, it spurs you on a little bit more I suppose. There is a lot to play for so it will be great to get him back up and running and we’ll see how long it takes.
“Some players will slot back in the group, other players take a little bit more time but at least he’s having an opportunity to stay with us and get some more time under his belt.”
McBryde paid tribute to Slimani, newly restored to the French squad for the Six Nations five and a half years after winning the last of his 57 caps. He was superb in Leinster’s victory over Bath, winning several scrum penalties.
“To have someone of Rabah’s quality, I really do think it’s one of the best places to nurture frontrow talent when you’ve got people from different backgrounds coming in and offering what they’ve got towards the scrum.
“Rabah has been a big hit with coaches and players alike because he’s so open. He wants players to improve, he’s struck up a good relationship with Jack Boyle for instance and that’s just from training against each other, playing with each other yes, but training against each other and being open to take advice on how best you can counter if a prop is trying to do this and that.
“From a coaching point of view, it makes my work so much easier because the feedback that young props get is instant feedback and that’s the best feedback you can get. So, in that regard, Rabah has been fantastic, and I’m so chuffed he’s been given an opportunity to get back in the French camp.”
One sour note from the last 10 days or so has been the personal abuse directed at a number of Leinster players and coaches on X (formerly Twitter) forcing the province to shut down the capacity to comment under their social media posts. It is the first time that they have had to do this since 2015.
McBryde, who has no social media profile, summed it up succinctly when he ventured: “Don’t go in it. If you want to look for shit, you’ll find it. So why go looking for it? You know, it’s easy for me because I wasn’t brought up in that environment. You know, it’s there, but why go looking for it?”
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