Jamie Heaslip back in frontline for Ireland against Wales

Maybe Jamie Heaslip really is invincible after all. Having missed just one RBS 6 Nations game in seven seasons, the absence of Ireland’s mainstay at No.8 from two of the first three games of this 2015 campaign suggested the formerly unbreakable forward was suddenly human after all.

A shoulder problem had prevented him from playing the opening match in Italy and then his return to action against the French a week later was curtailed by the knee of Pascal Papé fracturing sections of three vertebrae.

Such an injury should have signalled the end of Heaslip’s involvement in this Six Nations but reports of his demise, aided by the footage of him clearly in serious discomfort, were apparently exaggerated for the Leinster captain will be back in a green jersey in Cardiff tomorrow as Ireland continue their Grand Slam bid against Wales in the Millennium Stadium.