Murray and Reddan injuries give Schmidt selection headache

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt’s options at scrum-half for the RBS 6 Nations are still no clearer after Conor Murray and Eoin Reddan received their first medical assessments from the national team’s medical staff.

Schmidt’s Ireland squad convened at their training base in Maynooth, Kildare on Sunday night with a number of players bringing injuries into the Six Nations camp, not least scrum-halves Murray and Reddan, who face a race to be fit to face Italy in Rome on February 7.

Murray missed Munster’s final Champions Cup pool games against Saracens and Sale Sharks with a neck injury sustained against Zebre in the Pro12 three weeks ago. The first-choice number nine had been sent to a neurologist by Munster last week and the player was not cleared to play against Sale on Sunday, while yesterday’s medical bulletin issued by the IRFU merely stated: “Conor is scheduled to have further scans this week.”