Thumb injury could rule Stringer out of Italian clash

PETER STRINGER is doubtful for Ireland’s RBS Six Nations Championship meeting with Italy on Saturday week.

Stringer had a scan yesterday on the right thumb he injured in the victory over England at Twickenham last Saturday.

It showed damage to a tendon and as a result the thumb has been put in plaster.

The cast will be removed in six days and a decision will be taken on his fitness thereafter.

Coach Eddie O’Sullivan remains optimistic about Stringer’s prospects. “The prognosis is good,” he said. “The plaster is to immobilise the thumb and give it a better chance of recovery. We remain hopeful he will be fit to play.”

Meanwhile, former skipper Keith Wood yesterday spoke of his delight at Ireland’s magnificent victory over the world champions in their home fortress.

Wood was in Dublin at the launch of Dawn Omega Milk in St. Stephen's Green and described the victory as one of the greatest he had ever witnessed.

“I sat on the bench in 1994 when we won and I was in the television studio on Saturday, and I think I got as much pleasure out of it as the lads on the field,” Wood told Newstalk 106fm’s Off the Ball programme last night.

“Ireland exploited England in areas of weakness, maybe partly due to Woodward’s selection. It offered a little more scope than there might have been before then.

“There is a great probability of the Triple Crown and an outside chance of the championship, and we have to try everything to see if we can get the championship.

“I limped away from the stadium after the game even though I wasn’t playing. I just loved it, there was a glow around after the game, it was just fantastic.”

Wood, who played underage hurling for Clare, also expressed disappointment at the decision of GAA bosses not to discuss the issue of Rule 42 at their Congress in Killarney next month.

“I don’t want to get in the politics of it, I’m just a sportsman, and if you take the politics out of it, what would be the best for sports in Ireland is to have some level of cooperation between the sports bodies in Ireland.

“If you look in France where sports and politics are linked, all the stadiums are municipal so that all the sports play in them.

“I’d just like to see us maximising the facilities that we have.

“I think it would be unbelievably sad if Ireland were to play a home game outside of the country, you’d have to be sad, it just doesn’t sound right.”