While former Manchester United and Ireland captain Roy Keane watched an Ireland training session from the side of the pitch in Faro on Wednesday, Cian Healy admits he had more important things on his mind as he prepares for a fourth Rugby World Cup.
“I have no idea what he was doing there to be honest,” said Healy. “He wasn’t in camp, he was at the side of the pitch watching training. I don’t know, I didn’t get to chat to him, I was training.
“Some of the lads that had already done their part of the session would have said hello or whatever, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a scheduled thing. He was just on holidays here and showed up for a look.”
Ireland will return from warm-weather training at the weekend ahead of the second warm-up match against England on August 19th at the Aviva Stadium, which is likely to be the final opportunity to stake a claim for a place in Andy Farrell’s 33-man squad.
There is one final match in France against Samoa but after a recent 20-9 defeat to Wales, England will arrive to Dublin with a sharper edge, with Steve Borthwick having named his squad on Tuesday ahead of a second game against Wales at Twickenham on Saturday.
“Yeah, there are going to be a lot of players looking to put their hands up,” admitted Healy. “But we talk about how to do that, and how to do that is to play our game to the best of your ability.
“You don’t get picked by being the hero and going out trying to do something fantastic because the percentage of that coming off is pretty low. So, I think we have a pretty expansive game and players that know how to play it and who have the ability to play it.
“It’s just looking forward to everyone getting their chance. I suppose how they buy into what we are doing and where it’s going, and what stamp they can put on it themselves then.”
Healy has played loosehead prop, tighthead prop and hooker over the span of his 124 caps, but even at 35 he has no plans on stepping back or even confirming that this is his last World Cup.
“I don’t know, I’m not sure. It probably should but I suppose I haven’t looked at it that way yet. I’m trying not to look at it that way.
“I think if I do what I can to the best of my ability in the structure of the team, I think the rest will look after itself. If it’s to be special, it will be decided at the very end I suppose.”
