Captain Caelan Doris is one of three stalwarts who have been ruled out of Ireland’s Six Nations Test against Wales on Saturday.
Simon Easterby’s charges head to Cardiff knowing they will be without Doris, who has a knee issue, and on Tuesday night it was confirmed that hooker Ronan Kelleher and prop Tadhg Furlong did not pass fitness tests on injuries to the neck and calf respectively.
Doris and Kelleher were injured in the 32-18 rout of Scotland while Furlong has yet to appear in this edition of the Six Nations having also missed the November Tests because of a torn hamstring.
Ireland, the only unbeaten team in the championship, are optimistic that the absentees will recover in time for the crucial showdown with title rivals France on 8 March.
“We’re hoping they’ll be available for France. They’re just going through their processes that they do with the physios, but they’re all making good progress,” attack coach Andrew Goodman said on Tuesday.
The loss of Doris means Ireland will have a new captain for this weekend and Goodman believes they are blessed for options.
“There’s some good leaders in the squad. The leadership group’s been growing well over the past couple of years and there’s a number of players who have captained their provinces, so we have some good options there,” he said.
“You’ve got guys like Peter O’Mahony and Jack Conan who have captained their provinces. Dan Sheehan, Ringer [Garry Ringrose], JR [James Ryan], Cian Prendergast. There’s a number of players with leadership experience.”
© Agence France-Presse
Photo: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source link
