Headaches mount for Kidney

Ireland’s problems at tighthead prop and the lack of strength in depth in other sectors have long since exercised the mind but rarely has there been a shortage quite like that at 15 ahead of next month’s international window.

It was confirmed at yesterday’s squad announcement that Rob Kearney’s surgery will leave him unavailable for eight to 10 weeks and so he will join Luke Fitzgerald and Gavin Duffy on the sidelines when South Africa, Fiji and Argentina provide the opposition.

With Geordan Murphy having retired from international duty — and injured, in any case — and Felix Jones and Keith Earls currently at less than 100%, Declan Kidney will be hoping his options improve drastically before the first game on November 10.

The indications are that Earls won’t make Munster’s clash with Zebre this weekend but the utility back should, at least, be ready to train with the national selection next week, while Jones made his season’s bow against Edinburgh last Sunday.

Fingers will be kept tightly crossed all round that one or both Munster backs will discover an injury-free run of form given Tommy Bowe is, at a stretch, the only man named in yesterday’s 31-man squad who could possibly do a job at the back.

Under such circumstances, then, it was strange not to see Denis Hurley’s name on the list given he attended the two-day Carton House training camp last month, while the others mentioned — Ian Keatley, Ian Madigan and Rob Henshaw — all lack experience in the role.

For now, Kidney is keeping the door ajar and has indicated his intention to add another back to the party after the next two PRO12 rounds but he can be comforted by the fact that his difficulties at 15 are at least injury-inspired.

Yet again, the coach found himself pontificating about the lack of cover for Mike Ross at tighthead and this coming seven, long months after a similar lament in the wake of the scrum’s destruction against England at Twickenham in the Six Nations.

“Yeah. But, look, everybody has their jobs to do and our job is to pick from the best available players to us and that is what we are doing,” he said. The hope is that Ulster’s Declan Fitzpatrick will get some game time this weekend after his own injury issues.

Fitzpatrick has been the great hope since a storming display against Edinburgh in last April’s Heineken Cup semi-final but Stephen Archer and Ronan Loughney will be watched, as will Tony Buckley and John Andress whose Sale and Worcester sides meet this Friday.

There were further updates on a minor injury setback for Stephen Ferris and Ronan O’Gara’s hamstring, which he aggravated in training on Monday. Both are expected to be fit but others will undoubtedly fall foul to injury in the next two rounds of PRO12 action.

Kidney stressed time and again that the borders to this squad remained very much open and among those omitted on this occasion but who merited mentions from the top table were Leinster’s Shane Jennings, Munster’s James Downey and Connacht’s Dave McSharry.

So, hope remains for those on the fringes, it seems, but the selection was at its core a familiar one, again despite the inclusion of four uncapped players — Leinster’s Richardt Strauss, Munster’s Dave Kilcoyne and the Ulster pair of Iain Henderson and Luke Marshall.

How much we see of them next month is another thing.

Marshall, in particular, was talked up as a long-term investment by Kidney who added that he was the only one of the quartet who did not fill the criteria of starting for his province in the recent Heineken Cup games.

Strauss, who has taken the place of club teammate Sean Cronin in the national pecking order, is most likely to feature in the first or third fixtures although Kidney intimated that there will be no wholesale changes for the Fiji encounter in Limerick.

Should all that prove to be the case, there will undoubtedly be howls of annoyance to be heard yet again, as there will be today given the failure of those with strong claims such as Ulster scrum-half Paul Marshall and Connacht centre McSharry to get the nod.

Whatever about the squad, when the time comes and with world ranking points on the table, the reality is that most of the faces lining up for the anthems in November will be more than familiar with the demands of wearing the green jersey.