Battered Ross on road to recovery

Three stitches under Mike Ross’s right eye told you all you needed to know about the physical toll a Test match in Paris takes on a player but the Ireland tighthead prop believes he will be fresh and ready to go again when duty calls this Saturday against the Scots.

The cut and bruising around the eye, applied courtesy of a French boot last Sunday, was only the visual evidence of a typically intense encounter with France, and Ross is grateful that the Ireland management are treating them with kid gloves this week at Carton House in the narrow timeframe of just six days between games.

“A lot of the forwards from that (France) game are feeling pretty battered,” Ross said yesterday. “It was intensely physical over there and there wasn’t much quarter given or asked.