An Irish squad of around 36 or 37 players for the November Tests against the world champions South Africa, Fiji and Australia will be named on Wednesday afternoon. And despite the season being only five weeks old Andy Farrell has been hit by a spate of injuries, most notably in the outside backs.
Of the 40-man squad named for the New Zealand tour, plus three late call-ups, four players have already been ruled out. A few more have played hardly any or no rugby at all, with James Lowe among those also unlikely to feature in this squad list.
Rónan Kelleher, who also missed the summer tour, and Harry Byrne, who had to return home without playing a minute in New Zealand, have been sidelined again for up to eight weeks with hamstring injuries. Jordan Larmour has been sidelined with a foot injury, while Bundee Aki’s suspension rules him out of the South African and Fijian games. Another whose summer tour was ended by a knee injury in training, Iain Henderson, still hasn’t featured this season for Ulster either.
Stuart Lancaster sounded cautiously optimistic last Monday about the injured trio of Jamison Gibson-Park (hamstring), Lowe (calf) and Hugo Keenan (abdominal and knee injuries), who started all three Tests against the All Blacks but have yet to feature this season.
However, while Keenan, especially, and Gibson-Park are purportedly nearing a full return to training, word is that the injury Lowe picked up in pre-season is still some way from healing. Furthermore, there has been no indication of Keith Earls, who suffered a hamstring 12 minutes into Munster’s second game against the Dragons and Andrew Conway, who still hasn’t played since being ruled out of consideration for the summer tour with a knee injury, making imminent returns.
Hence, Ireland are looking particularly thin among the outside backs, especially as the unlucky Jacob Stockdale, who effectively missed all of last season, has been sidelined again with another ankle injury.
Presuming Keenan is named, along with Mack Hansen, as well as Jimmy O’Brien and Michael Lowry, who played against the Maoris, then Robert Baloucoune should also return after being ruled out of the New Zealand tour due to the torn tendon in his hip he cruelly suffered in Ulster’s URC semi-final defeat and which required surgery.
The Ulster speedster admitted that setback was “hard to deal with” but Baloucoune was one of only four previously capped players selected for the Emerging Ireland tour. Another who impressed on the trek to South Africa, not least with his superbly taken try against the Cheetahs, is the match-hardened Shane Daly and he may also make the cut.
As if all those injuries weren’t enough, there are also concerns regarding James Ryan (knee), Tadhg Beirne (groin), Josh van der Flier (ankle), Jack Conan (eye) and Craig Casey (groin). This may mean none of them will be risked in the Leinster-Munster encounter at the Aviva Stadium next Saturday. The injuries to Beirne and Van der Flier appear to be the most concerning.
In some respects, the injury toll − especially in the back three − might clarify squad selection for Farrell and co. Midfield is also looking a tad threadbare in light of Aki’s suspension, especially as here again James Hume hasn’t featured since suffering the groin injury in the first game against the New Zealand Maoris which ended his tour.
However, he is close to a return and may play for Ulster against the Sharks next Saturday. His team-mate Stuart McCloskey, who replaced Hume and played in the ensuing win over the Maoris, should also be rewarded for his form this season. Luke Marshall, too, deserves to be in the conversation again after his heartwarming return from injuries with a run of impressive displays.
The three outhalves who went to New Zealand − Johnny Sexton, Joey Carbery and Ciarán Frawley − are all fit and playing, which could keep the door closed for Jack Carty (ruled out of consideration last summer due to a wrist surgery) and Jack Crowley, despite him impressing the Irish coaching staff on the Emerging Ireland tour. Similarly, presuming Gibson-Park is named, then once again Conor Murray and Craig Casey will complete the trio of scrumhalves.
There is a similar state of affairs with the three hookers named in the original squad for New Zealand − Dan Sheehan, Rob Herring and Dave Heffernan − and indeed the six props who went on last summer’s tour, thus making it more difficult for Dave Kilcoyne to reclaim his place after recovering from neck surgery last season.
Henderson’s woes could open the door for Tom Ahern, whose athleticism and work-rate arguably made him the player of the tour with Emerging Ireland, although, once again, the other five locks who played in New Zealand are all fit and well.
This includes Joe McCarthy who, like Cian Prendergast, also went on both tours, and so the latter is also likely to keep his place along with the other half dozen loose forwards who featured in New Zealand.
As against the Maoris, a sizeable number of this squad will probably provide the core of the Ireland ‘A’ side which will play against a New Zealand selection at the RDS on Friday, November 4th. The squad will be supplemented by additional players for the latter game.
Leon MacDonald will coach the 28-strong All Blacks XV squad which was selected by the coaching team of Ian Foster, Joe Schmidt and Jason Ryan, for games against Ireland ‘A’ and the Barbarians. It includes eight players with Test experience – captain Patrick Tuipulotu, Aidan Ross, Angus Ta’avao, Asafo Aumua, Luke Jacobson, TJ Perenara, Brad Weber and Damian McKenzie.
Possible Ireland squad
Hookers: Sheehan, Herring, Heffernan
Props: Porter, Furlong, Healy, Bealham, Loughman, O’Toole
Locks: Ryan, Beirne, Treadwell, McCarthy, Baird
Backrows: O’Mahony, Van der Flier, Doris, Conan, Coombes, Prendergast, Timoney
Scrumhalves: Gibson-Park, Murray, Casey
Outhalves: Sexton, Carbery, Frawley
Centres: Henshaw, Ringrose, McCloskey, Hume
Outside backs: Keenan, Hansen, O’Brien, Lowry, Baloucoune, Daly
Ireland’s November programme
Friday, November 4th: Ireland ‘A’ v All Blacks XV, RDS Arena, time tbc
Saturday, November 5th: Ireland v South Africa, Aviva Stadium, 5.30pm
Saturday, November 12th: Ireland v Fiji, Aviva Stadium, 1pm
Saturday, November 19th: Ireland v Australia, Aviva Stadium, 8pm
