The Ireland rugby squad's roadshow completed its 24-hour stay in Belfast in relatively rude health, with Jamie Heaslip, Seán O'Brien and Jared Payne all taking some part in an intense 90-minute work-out at Kingspan Stadium, leaving only Johnny Sexton as a concern for next week's trek to Cardiff and that monumental meeting with Wales.
Both O’Brien and Payne took part in some of the drills, sitting out the contact work as they observe the return-to-play protocols after suffering bouts of concussion in the win over England at the Aviva Stadium last Sunday. Given the 13-day turnaround there seems every likelihood that they will be able to train fully next week and thus be in line to face the Welsh.
In front of a sell-out crowd of 5,000, Heaslip took a fairly active part in some of the fitness drills and also in the 15 v 15 section of the session against members of the Ulster Academy, as part of his recovery from the three cracked vertebrae he sustained against France.
"He's at a stage where we feel really comfortable with it so he will hopefully come in to next week ready to go," said forwards coach Simon Easterby afterwards.
While Sexton was confined to signing autographs, the decision by Racing Metro to release the player from club duties ought to assist his recovery from the hamstring injury which forced him off against England.
Sexton returned to his club on Monday but was freed to link up with the Ireland squad on Wednesday. Admittedly, his history with hamstring problems is a worry, as is the refusal of the Ireland management to divulge the exact results of a scan on the injury and whether his hamstring suffered a strain or a slight tear.
Right treatment
“The hamstring is a tricky one, isn’t it? It’s hard to predict too far ahead but he is in a good place and he is getting the right treatment,” said Easterby. “He’d be important to any team. I think that is a mark of the guy, the way he prepares himself and the way he galvanises and organises the team. We have got to make sure he is right. He certainly is a big part of what any team would do but with Ireland he does have a huge impact.”
A former player and forwards coach with the Scarlets, Easterby has a particularly good insight into the Welsh pack and he was also given his Test debut by Warren Gatland against Scotland at Lansdowne Road in 2000.
“He picked me first for Ireland and I’d say he obviously knew what he was looking for in a potential international player,” said Easterby with a chuckle. “No, his record speaks for itself. Whether it be with Wasps, with Wales or the Lions, he knows how to win rugby matches, he knows how to win silverware, so he’s pretty astute. He’s got a great coaching team around him and he has a number of world-class players in that set-up – real genuine game breakers at the highest level. He’s got a pretty good set-up going on there. That whets the appetite for our boys I think and for us as coaches to know that we are going over there and how much we have to get right to get a result.”
Point of no return
Wales, who responded to their opening defeat at home to England by winning away to Scotland and France, now face the point of no return against Ireland in this year’s
Six Nations
.
“They’ve probably just had a 25/30 minute blip against England and England just took the game away from them. Listen, they don’t win titles and championships for nothing. They know how to win competitions, they know how to play well when it matters, they’ve only lost twice at home in 10 games in the championship. They’re a really good team,” Easterby added.
“They’ll be desperate to avenge what happened in Dublin last year. There was a bit of a job done on them and I think that all adds to a bit of the interest in the game along with the fact that they’re back in the mix now for the championship with their win in Paris. So, it’s all building up nicely towards Cardiff and we’ve been here before, haven’t we? Hopefully, we’ll not get too distracted by what’s going on outside the playing environment.”
The latter comments were made with a knowing smile. The Ireland management are clearly bracing themselves for the odd pre-match grenade being lobbed their way, as Gatland has done in the past and as Shaun Edwards did last week when suggesting Ireland’s use of the choke tackle should be outlawed.
Unsurprisingly, Easterby strongly hinted that Ireland will be of a mind to defuse them rather than lob them back. “If you get too distracted by that then you take your eye off the ball. So we’ll just carry on with our job, keep focused and hopefully that will translate through to the players.”
Meanwhile, Ulster centre Luke Marshall has been suspended for five weeks after being cited for a kick to the head of Scarlets wing Michael Tagicakibau during Ulster's 25 - 20 win last Friday.
The disciplinary committee deemed the incident worthy of a red card and judged Marshall’s offence to be at the mid-range, which holds an entry point of eight weeks. They reduced it to five due to “mitigating factors including his unblemished playing record.”
Marshall will miss three of Ulster’s Pro12 fixtures. Teammate Roger Wilson was given a one-game ban for striking a Scarlets player and will miss Sunday’s game at the Dragons.
