Irish trio hope to prove injury nightmares are over

MANY an hour has been lost in Smyth’s pub on Dublin’s Haddington Road immersed in talk of rugby but yesterday’s chats with Jerry Flannery, Tomás O’Leary and Stephen Ferris could have been mistaken for an informal medical seminar.

All three have travelled the lonely road back from injury this year but there was glad, if cautious, tidings to be heard about pulls, tears and strains amid the bar’s Leinster flags and framed photos of Brian O’Driscoll, Ronan O’Gara and other memorabilia.

“I’ve got three weeks under my belt now in pre-season and I’m feeling good and feeling fresh,” said O’Leary whose back injury cut short his Six Nations and kept him sidelined until early May when he filched 50 minutes against Connacht.

“The injury is behind me, so (I’m) just really enjoying training properly. Looking forward to the summer series games now as well. The previous game I played was in the Six Nations against France, so obviously I didn’t finish the season in a great manner.”

Ferris was more wary of the road ahead. That was no surprise. The flanker suffered what appeared to be an innocuous knee injury against Aironi in late January but numerous comeback dates have been set and missed along the way since.

“There are still questions to be answered because I haven’t taken any contact. I haven’t been involved in team plays and stuff like that yet. I’ve just been training on my own a good bit and with other injured guys who are coming back.

“So, it has been a lot of straight line running and a lot of conditioning. It hasn’t been game-related yet, but we’ll just tick every box as it comes, keep making progress and take it from there. At the minute it is going really well.”

Flannery is taking a similar stance. Bedeviled by injuries for a number of years now, the Munster hooker made just two appearances, both off the bench, for his province last year because of calf problems.

“I’m alright, yeah. I’m just being a bit cautious. We’ve been back training and I’ve taken part in pretty much everything but I’ve had so many times that I’ve come back and someone says to me, ‘how’s it going?’, we’d diagnose it and say ‘it’s your back’. I’d get an injection and I’d get back and play my first game and break down.

“Until I’ve played my first game I’m being hesitant. As long as I can take part with the lads I’m just conscious there is going to be muscle imbalances in my left and right leg and while I can take part. I need to balance it out and put the strength back in both legs.”

Like the others, Flannery is hungry for game time. There have been suggestions Declan Kidney may ask some of his rehabbing stars to tog out for their provinces in pre-season friendlies and Flannery likes the sound of that.

The main focus, New Zealand aside, is the upcoming summer series when Ireland will hone their preparations against Scotland, France (twice) and England and Kidney will be eager to see how the likes of Flannery, Ferris, O’Leary and Rob Kearney shape up.

All four were first-choice internationals before their injury-enforced absences.

“I suppose I’m the same as lot of the players there,” said Flannery. “If I was a coach I’d be looking and saying that this guy has played... I’m not completely unknown to him. I’ve been playing for Declan a long time so he knows what I can do.

“It’s whether I can stay fit, play games during the summer series and perform well. There’s a lot of competition at hooker, I’m aware of that. I just want to get a chance to push my case once I get on the field.”