Players back recovering Cian Healy to be ready for Ireland’s RWC opener
The first-choice Irish loosehead prop underwent neck surgery on a disc in May but reports this week have suggested the 27-year-old may be struggling to complete his rehabilitation in time for Ireland’s opening pool game against Canada in Cardiff on September 19.
Healy, however, took a full part in yesterday’s light training session in Cork which was open to the public and viewed by around 3,000 supporters at Musgrave Park before signing autographs with the rest of Joe Schmidt’s extended squad, and his progress received a ringing endorsement from back rower O’Mahony.
“From what I’ve seen, he’s flying it,” O’Mahony told TV3. “He’s doing all his rehabbing and he’s an impressive athlete who’s been flying over the last few weeks, so I don’t think there’s any issue there.
“Obviously it’s for the medics to decide what’s going on but from what I’ve seen of him he’s flying it anyway.”
Tight-head Ross revealed his fellow front rower had also been involved in scrummaging this week during camp sessions at Carton House as training steps up a notch ahead of four World Cup warm-up matches beginning on Saturday, August 8 against Wales at the Millennium Stadium.
“He’s been rehabbing very well. It wasn’t a great thing to get but he’s been scrummaging this week and we’re quite hopeful he’ll be fit and in the frame for selection come the World Cup,” Ross told RTÉ, before looking ahead to the preparatory matches which also include home games against Scotland and the Welsh before a trip to Twickenham to take on tournament hosts England on September 5.
“It’s a very good warm-up,” Ross said of the opener in Wales.
“It was a very intense game during the Six Nations down there and it should put both teams in good stead going into it.”
Having completed their light workout and subsequent signing and selfie session with supporters at Musgrave Park, the Ireland squad disbanded for a few days’ rest before regrouping at Carton House in Co. Kildare on Monday for the build-up to the Wales game.
Warren Gatland’s Wales squad are on a similar break, having just returned from back-to-back training camps in Switzerland and then Doha in Qatar. The Swiss excursion involved conditioning at altitude before the Welsh players were subjected to training in searing desert heat with temperatures in Qatar reaching above 40 degrees.
“How do I describe it? It’s been pretty savage, by anyone’s standards,” Wales wing George North said in an interview from Doha with a Welsh newspaper.
“For the boys that were here from the last World Cup, to this camp, it’s taken a hell of a step up. It’s the hardest thing I’ve had to do, pre-season wise. I think I’ve been to places that no man should be on his own.
“I’ve seen gremlins, I’ve seen different things when I’ve been running, but that is pre-season.
“We are not here for a long time, we are here for hard work and graft. It’s been hard, but it’s been awesome.”
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