Things look up on the fitness front

THERE was positive news for Ireland on the fitness front as the World Cup squad took part in their first training session in New Zealand yesterday.

All but Rob Kearney of the 28-player contingent that landed on the South Island on Thursday took part in the light workout at the picturesque Queenstown Events Centre, set against the backdrop of the snow-capped Remarkables mountain range. Even full-back Kearney, who sustained a groin strain during the first match against France in Bordeaux three weeks ago, did not miss out completely, while the Ireland management confirmed that Cian Healy and Gordon D’Arcy will leave Dublin today and arrive in Queenstown on Monday having had their departures delayed due to injury.

“Rob Kearney did his own work, running around with physios and stuff like that, but you didn’t want him to be twisting and turning too much, particularly after the flight,” Ireland coach Declan Kidney said. “With the flight, you need to get a bit of exercise under the belt but we were trying to hold them back this morning, they’re still going at full throttle because they are competitive and that can lead to unnecessary soft tissue injuries, so the risk management of that was don’t do anything strained.”

The Irish coaches will gradually increase the workload on the players as they get the marathon journey from Dublin via London, Dubai and Sydney out of their system, with their first full contact session expected to take place on Tuesday.

Kidney said Cian Healy’s eye socket injury suffered during the defeat to England last Saturday had healed sufficiently for the prop to travel today.

“He got a bang around the socket and you don’t fly when you do something like that. You wait for the swelling to come down and then three or four days later, that’s grand.

“We had a run-out this morning and fellas would be trying as hard as ever but it takes a couple of days to settle in, a day for every hour you fly through in terms of the timezone to get it back and that’s when you’re healthy, so if you’re unhealthy you are only tempting fate in terms of the pressure on your system.”

As for D’Arcy, who picked up a calf strain on Tuesday, Kidney said the centre’s chances of starting against the USA on September 11 would not be affected by his late arrival alongside Healy while Sean O’Brien’s knee injury sustained two weeks ago against France was making “pretty good progress” and the dynamic back-row had done 90 per cent of the work during yesterday’s training session.

Captain Brian O’Driscoll declared himself trouble free following the shoulder injury that caused him to miss the England game.

“At this moment in time I don’t see any reason why I won’t be playing against the USA,” he said.