Ireland coach Joe Schmidt has played down the severity of Robbie Henshaw’s hamstring injury despite Tuesday’s scan showing blood which indicates a tear.
Schmidt has given him a chance of playing against Romania on September 27th.
“Right at the end of training on Tuesday Robbie felt his hamstring tighten a little bit. We got it scanned, there is a little bit of blood there, he is okay to walk or jog around but he does feel that tightness when he is accelerating and therefore it would be a real risk to push him ahead. We would be quietly confident he should be okay by next Sunday.”
That’s 12 days to recover without training so Italy at Olympic Park on October 4th might be a more realistic goal for the 21 year old.
The flip side is the opportunity that has been presented to Luke Fitzgerald. 28 now, the Blackrock man was a capped as a teenager and a British and Irish Lion by 21 before the first ruptured knee ligament came against Australia in November 2009.
By then Eddie O’Sullivan had tried him in a centre partnership with Brian O’Driscoll for the November 2008 series against Canada, New Zealand and Canada. He also played at inside centre for a Schmidt coached Leinster after Declan Kidney preferred Fergus McFadden in the 2011 World Cup squad.
“It’s ironic, this time four years ago he was starting at 12 for Leinster. He’s had a fair bit of game time for me at 12 and we have a lot of confidence in him playing 12 or 13.
“He’s already played 13 for me in the pre-World Cup test matches. We felt he did pretty well there and has earned himself another opportunity.”
It can be seen by the Henshaw-Jared Payne partnership that Schmidt doesn’t overly differentiate between inside and outside centres; they are part of one elastic band.
Schmidt was asked if he sees Fitzgerald as a player who can effectively slot into any jersey numbered 12 to 15.
“Yeh, I think so.”
Team news
There is better news in every other area as Rob Kearney is passed fit to start after preseason concerns over his “bruised knee.” Conor Murray has also recovered from the concussion sustained after catching England prop Joe Marler’s boot at Twickenham a fortnight back, allaying fears despite it being a third head injury inside a year, to link up with Johnny Sexton at half back.
All told, Schmidt is fielding all his available frontliners with a view to running the rest of the squad against Romania.
Keith Earls beats the benched Simon Zebo to the left wing spot while Iain Henderson partners captain Paul O’Connell in the second row.
Henderson’s form for Ulster and off the bench for Ireland during the past two Six Nations has removed Devin Toner from the match day squad as Donnacha Ryan will be the lock/blindside flanker cover.
Otherwise, it’s expected to be the same pack that has proved so effective since 2013 with both Jack McGrath and Cian Healy to share time at loosehead prop as Healy plays his first game since neck surgery last May. McGrath starts, winning his 21st cap, starts.
The rest of the bench is: Sean Cronin, Nathan White, Chris Henry, Eoin Reddan and Ian Madigan.
But the main concern right now is Henshaw.
Canada have also named their team and they are without their captain, Ospreys lock Tyler Ardon, who also has a hamstring injury - so Clermont Auvergne’s Jamie Cudmore takes over the leadership role.
A largely amateur squad, kiwi head coach Kieran Crowley has selected Pro 12 wingers Jeff Hassler and DTH ven der Merwe with several players plying their trade in the English championship.
Captains
Inevitably, considering they are opposing captains at the Millennium stadium on Saturday, the 2008 punch-up between Cudmore and Paul O’Connell at Thomond Park was brought up. For the record, O’Connell shipped two heavy blows from the big lock before “defending himself.” When the dust settled English referee Chris White consulted his touch judge before red carding Cudmore and sin-binning O’Connell.
“He’s a terrific player,” said O’Connell. “The biggest testament to him is to be in a club like Clermont, which is one of the most consistent teams in Europe for the last seven or eight or nine years, they can pick up the best players in the world and he consistently commands a place in that team. He seems to get better with age. He’s a big hitter in everything he does.”
O’Connell is bigger.
Ireland: R Kearney; D Kearney, J Payne, L Fitzgerald, K Earls; J Sexton, C Murray; J McGrath, R Best, M Ross; I Henderson, P O'Connell (capt); P O'Mahony, S O'Brien, J Heaslip. Replacements: S Cronin, C Healy, N White, D Ryan, C Henry, E Reddan, I Madigan, S Zebo.
Canada: Matt Evans (Cornish Pirates); Jeff Hassler (Ospreys), Ciaran Hearn (Unattached/Atlantic Rock), Nick Blevins (Calgary Hornets/Prairie Wolf Pack), DTH van der Merwe (Scarlets); Nathan Hirayama (UVIC Vikes/BC Bears), Gordon McRorie (Calgary Hornets/Prairie Wolf Pack); Hubert Buydens (Unattached/Prairie Wolf Pack), Ray Barkwill (Unattached/Ontario Blues), Doug Wooldridge (Lindsay RFC/Ontario Blues); Brett Beukeboom (Cornish Pirates), Jamie Cudmore, Captain - (Clermont Auvergne); Kyle Gilmour - (Rotherham Titans/Prairie Wolf Pack), John Moonlight - (James Bay AA/Ontario Blues), Aaron Carpenter - (Cornish Pirates/Ontario Blues).
