Sean Cronin still in the hunt for Lions role

Sean Cronin has his sights trained on the Lions tour to New Zealand despite ruling himself out of Ireland’s Six Nations campaign.

The Leinster hooker picked up a grade two hamstring tear in the province’s hammering of Zebre 12 days ago, and faces a 10-week spell on the sidelines. A quick recovery could put him in contention for the potential Grand Slam decider against England in Dublin next March, but the Limerick man says he will take his time to get fit.

“It would be great to have the England game in my mind as a target, but I have to be realistic as well that it would be well into the Championship at that stage and hopefully Ireland will be going well,” he said.