Schmidt has consoling words for out-of-favour Fitzgerald

LEINSTER coach Joe Schmidt adopted the role of chief cheerleader for Luke Fitzgerald yesterday but refused to be drawn on the wing’s latest international setback.

Omitted from Declan Kidney’s World Cup squad last year, the versatile back returned to Leinster camp a day later and was in superb form until a recent combination of glute and neck injuries forced him from the front line.

Named in the Wolfhounds squad for the game against England Saxons, it appears that – like Tomás O’Leary who was also absent from New Zealand and has been named in the second-string this week – he still has some way to go to get back in the senior fold.

“We don’t discuss the Irish squad outside the Irish environment just because we have got enough on our plate with the Leinster environment,” said Schmidt yesterday, “but we are always driving people to be available and to play at the next level. What we can’t influence we try not to be too focused on.

“It is really disappointing for Luke. He was nothing short of outstanding in the Bath fixture. I thought the speed and the balance in his running... there has been some really good facets in his play since the start of the season. There has also been his versatility in that he played the first five games of the season at 12.”

Unfortunately for Fitzgerald, he has missed Leinster’s last three games. The signs are that he will have to sit out Montpellier’s visit to the RDS tomorrow as well and Schmidt is also awaiting news on the fitness of Jonathan Sexton and Kevin McLaughlin.

Both will be assessed before noon today when the teamsheet must be forwarded to the ERC and it remains to be seen if it marks captain Leo Cullen’s last game before surgery or whether the lock will make himself available to Ireland for the Six Nations.

Cullen has been playing despite an Achilles tendon problem in recent months and has booked himself in for an operation in the coming weeks but he will talk with Declan Kidney and Schmidt next week before deciding whether to go ahead with it or not.

“I’d say I probably would just manage away,” said Cullen when asked what his preferred path would be.

“If it gets to the stage where I’m struggling to play then obviously it’ll get taken out of my hands.”

Whatever Cullen’s decision, he may be available to lead the province’s push for another Heineken Cup title and league crown but the situation regarding Shane Horgan appears far more serious.

Horgan has sat out the entire season thus far with a knee injury and has already missed his goal of a return before Christmas. Now it seems that, not only is his entire season in jeopardy, but that his career may too be in question.

“It’s getting tight for time to be honest,” said the coach of the 33-year-old’s chances of featuring before the summer break. “For Shane, we’d hope for some improvement in the next four to six weeks really.

“Otherwise, with the amount of time out of the game, we would be starting to get too tight. The only thing I’d say about Shane Horgan though is that maybe people thought he wasn’t going to feature massively for us last year and, you know, I thought he was fantastic.”

As for the possibility of Horgan’s career being in doubt were he to sit out the entire campaign, Schmidt said: “It’s always something [older players] have to consider when they come back from long-term injuries. Is there enough time left for them to really get back into the game?

“I suppose the longer it goes (on) the tougher that will be for Shane but as far as mentally being very mature and very, very tough, Shane will make those decisions once he’s decided it’s just not possible to get back — if that’s what happens in the next six to eight weeks.”