So many untested bodies.
Johnny Sexton must survive his first collision to ensure a collective sigh of relief from the 50,000 who journey up Lansdowne Road. So too Sean O’Brien, although we fear more for those the Tullow farmer ploughs than for his own well being.
And what of Cian Healy? So long it’s been since he corroded an opponent that we were beginning to settle for Jack McGrath’s ballast.
Yesterday gave us two gatherings from separate branches of high priesthood – Joe Schmidt at Carton House, where the aforementioned trio were named in the Irish team, while earlier Leinster coach Matt O’Connor spoke of a less heralded match against the Dragons on Sunday.
The initial plan was for O’Brien’s wounded frame to be kneaded further at the RDS. Same goes for Healy after tearing a hamstring clean off the bone in September.
Green garb
But the French are coming. England after them. They can no longer be spared. Both generate power surges of such rarity that Archbishop Schmidt hastened their return to skin-tight green garb.
"The starting in Rome, as it turned out, was probably a step too far given where he had been," remarked O'Connor of O'Brien's "tweaked" hamstring that denied him a first Six Nations outing since March 2013.0
“He’s had a week to prepare and it has probably heightened everyone’s awareness to the fact that you need to be a little bit conscious with guys returning from injury.”
But O’Connor, ever the diplomat, did add: “He’s certainly ready to play at that level.”
A concern remains, well, it was slightly lessened, by O’Brien assuring all that he tested the muscle under the watchful gaze of Ireland’s medical team.
“I didn’t really tailor it because if I didn’t train on Tuesday fully I wasn’t going to be involved. It was grand.”
He recently played 50 minutes against the England Saxons. In contrast, Healy and Sexton have literally been on ice for months.
“I’ve scored a load of tries off the bench,” Healy doth protest, harking back to younger days understudying for Ollie le Roux and Stan Wright.
We understand the psychology but he hardly believes the cautious attitude adopted before his imminent arrival off the bench.
“You don’t want to go in and try to do the miracle play and mess everything up.”
Yet Healy is no ordinary man. “I’m still a good chunk ahead of schedule, as far as I know. But, like, schedules are for Joe Soap.
“I think it was supposed to be six months but that’s for an average person and not getting the attention that I got. I’ve been given top-level attention and rehab so that’s sped that up an awful lot, and then I’m pretty good at healing as well.”
Bulls tussling
They may not be fully functioning versions of themselves quite yet, but the sight of French bulls tussling in the trenches with O’Mahony, O’Connell and Best might defy physical restraints.
We leave these soon to be unleashed behemoths with the same question. Greatest Irish squad ever assembled?
Healy agrees: “Yeah, I probably would say that. It’s a squad that we have everyone on the same page and everyone’s working in the same direction, and everyone knows what needs to go into the job to get to where we want to be.”
O’Brien concurs: “You look at our bench as well. It probably is the strongest team we’ve had in a long time. It’s good to see we have that strength in depth there now.”
Their return feels worth the risk.
