Johnny Sexton, Iain Henderson and Peter O’Mahony all sat out Ireland’s training session in the state-of-the-art surrounds of the St George’s Park in Staffordshire on Wednesday, but skills and kicking coach Richie Murphy maintained there was no need for alarm and all could play next Sunday against Romania.
There were also mixed messages regarding the well-being of Robbie Henshaw (the one player ruled out of the opening game due to a hamstring strain) which seemingly makes him a doubt again to face Romania.
“Robbie trained reasonably hard today,” said Murphy. “He did a lot of running, a lot of passing and again he’s in a position where he’s returning to full fitness and he’s very close. Again whether Robbie will be ready for this week we’re not quite sure at this moment, but we’re hoping that he will.”
Sexton sustained a slight knee injury in last Saturday’s win over Canada. “It’s nothing major. It’s just a case of trying to manage the players and make sure he’s okay for the weekend.”
Irish supporters and media alike fret over Sexton like mother hens whenever there’s mention of him having “a knock”, but Murphy said his departure from the fray in the 55th minute last Saturday was no cause for concern. “It’s not a worrying moment, no. It’s very little. It’s a very minor knock and there’s nothing to be worried about.”
Similarly Henderson and O’Mahony picked up “small knocks” according to Murphy. “Everyone’s in contention for Sunday. He (Sexton) has definitely not been ruled out for any other reason. That team will be announced, obviously, later on in the week (Friday lunchtime) and Johnny’s in for selection like everyone else.”
Nevertheless, there must be a good chance that none of the trio will be risked in what is likely to be a much changed line-up, with Murphy underlining the management’s intention to use all 31 squad members over the first two games.
“I think the big thing is that you want guys to earn the right to play. That’s been judged in training because guys aren’t playing matches. The guys that are in the squad, everyone has trained really hard, everyone is dying to get a sniff of getting a start or getting into the match-day 23. That’s something we’re looking at and we’re conscious of. If the players are in the right frame of mind and they put themselves forward, they’ll get their opportunity.”
Ireland will again be expected to win well on Sunday, before altogether sterner tests against Italy and France which are liable to bear no relation to these opening two games.
“I think we just have to look at ourselves and try to build for what we’re doing. We looked at the game at the weekend, looked back in detail. We felt that there were some things we did very well and loads of things we can still improve on.”
“From our point of view,” added Murphy, “going into this match at the weekend, we want to take another step, another step forward. If we can do that, that will be good. Things like making sure our set-piece is really strong, making sure that our pass quality is good and that we’re good around the breakdown area is the key thing.”
“We have to set out own standards and see where that gets us to. Romania themselves, obviously, are playing tonight and we’ll get a look at them then. We’ve done a lot of analysis on them and they’re very strong in the front five.
They could cause us problems in that area and they’ve got a couple of nice backs as well. We’ve got to look at the challenge at hand and try to set our own standards and go from there.”
With Romania laden with a four-day turnover from their opener tonight against France, Ireland also have the advantage of training on a replica of Wembley at St George’s Park.
“It’s an incredible set-up, we feel like we’re a little away from everyone which is nice and the players have had plenty of time to rest and recover,” said Murphy. “On the training pitch it’s been fantastic, the standard of the training facilities is second to none, and the lads have really enjoyed that.”
“I think the training pitch might even be better than Wembley, it’s that good it’s ridiculous. The standard is incredible. The guys can get used to running on top of the ground, it’s a firm track, it’s a big track, and it’s a perfect way to prepare.
As for place-kicking, Murphy said: “The one thing you won’t recreate is the effect of the stands and the stadium. We’ll deal with that today as long as we get it right on the weekend.”
