The Irish management are still waiting for a full assessment on the foot injury Dan Sheehan sustained in last Saturday’s 29-10 win over England.
There are conflicting vibes regarding the hooker’s wellbeing for the forthcoming World Cup but there remains hope that the world-class 24-year-old might still be able to play in the tournament.
“We still haven’t got confirmation on what it is,” admitted attack coach Mike Catt after the squad’s training session in sweltering heat in Bayonne’s Stade Jean Dauger on Tuesday, where Ireland will play Samoa in their final warm-up game next Saturday (8.45pm local time/7.45pm Irish time).
“He’s still seeing a specialist, obviously he’s being rehabbed back in Dublin so hopefully Andy will have a bit more of an answer tomorrow. As it currently stands he’s seeing a specialist and getting the proper treatment accordingly, really.”
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Nor was Catt inclined to shed any light on speculation that Sheehan might be sidelined for six to eight weeks.
“Like I say he’s still being diagnosed so we’ll have a much better idea tomorrow or on Thursday in terms of where he’s at and when his back to return dates are.”
There’s little doubt that were Sheehan not named in the squad next Monday, he would be a significant loss, having quickly became a cornerstone of the Irish pack in the last year and a half.
“I think what you get from Dan is one of the best hookers in the world currently so he’s going to be missed in whatever team he plays in, but again we’ve got full faith in Rob Herring, Ronan Kelleher and Tom Stewart obviously, who is showing his face at the moment.
“So, it gives these guys an opportunity to have a pop this weekend and again, depending on the diagnosis, we’ll see how we go on the back end of it. Dan is a world-class rugby player, he has been instrumental in terms of how we play our game. So, he’d be a big loss to anybody.”
Neither Johnny Sexton, James Lowe nor Ronan Kelleher appeared to train with the rest of the squad today, while like Sheehan, both Jack Conan and David Kilcoyne also remained at home to continue rehabbing their foot and hamstring injuries.
Despite two relatively commanding wins over Italy and England, scoring five tries in each, there remains frustration with what Farrell has described as clunky performances and looking ahead to next Saturday’s game Catt conceded: “I think we need to be a lot more clinical. We need to play our way, we know exactly what’s coming with Samoa, they are a big, physical side, we need to make sure we play our game and play at a tempo that we’ve trained for the past eight, nine weeks to play at.
“So, it’s making sure the guys are in the right frame of mind, it’s their final opportunity really to put a gauntlet down for selection and we want to go into the World Cup on a massive high.
“We haven’t performed particularly well against Italy or England, we definitely felt a bit rusty or ‘clunky’, as they put it, so it’s an opportunity for us now to fix the fixables.”
In the absence of the suspended Sexton, Jack Crowley, Ciaran Frawley and Ross Byrne have all had game time at outhalf, and perhaps tellingly, Catt commented: “I think the authority is something that Ross brings. Jack is probably still learning on that authority, but listen he’s got a lot of good players around him and if he’s able to play his game just like he did for those last six games for Munster at the back of the season, he’s got a massive amount of talent there. It’s him being him and Ross being Ross.”
