Healy: Mas mission possible

IMAGINE being the footballing full-back who has to spend 90 minutes being tormented by Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo only to learn he then has to mark Barcelona’s Lionel Messi the following week.

It would be enough to bring out the cold sweats in a defender lacking the courage of his convictions yet Ireland prop Cian Healy faces the rugby equivalent this weekend and he is savouring the prospect.

A week after tangling with Italy’s tighthead Martin Castrogiovanni in Rome, the Leinster loosehead must now ready himself for the no less considerable challenges to be posed tomorrow by France’s snarling front row Rottweiler, Nicolas Mas.