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.

“The main focus is just getting it right because I’ve been warned a couple of times by the doctor and physios that there is such a high rate of re-injuring the type of tear that I had.

“You can get these things back to 100% easy enough if you just take the time. That will be more of a focus than making it back for the last game.”

Lions head coach Warren Gatland will use the Six Nations championship as an audition for the summer tour, but Cronin hopes he can remain in the Kiwi’s thoughts even if he misses out.

“I would back myself,” he said. “I think I offer something different, in terms of the way they will pick the squad, off the bench and especially going to New Zealand with the type of games they could be down there.

“I thought I was playing well to put myself in the frame, definitely, for the short list, if you want to put it that way.

“I still think there’s an opportunity to try and play well.

“The Six Nations, obviously, has a huge bearing on who is going to go on that tour.

“They are the elite games and the guys that play well in those elite games are the frontrunners.

“If he’s looking for something outside of the box, someone that’s going to bring something different, I think I am one of the best around to do that. Hopefully, that can keep me in the reckoning.”

While missing the Six Nations is a major blow to Cronin’s season, he knows there is still at least one more Champions Cup clash to look forward to with Leinster.

The province booked their place in the quarter-final last Friday with a huge win over Montpellier and though James Tracy has worn the No2 shirt well in Cronin’s absence, the 30-year-old is determined to return stronger than ever in time for the knockout stage clash.

“I don’t want to push it,” he said. “We were talking about getting back for that last Six Nations game but if I need to take the 10 weeks I’m going to take the 10 weeks because I need that area of my game to be right up there, I need to be able to have my power and my pace and my speed. I want to be at the stage where I’m ready to come back, I’m fit, because there’s still hopefully two and a half months of the season left for me to hopefully have a good go at.

“I’m gutted, I thought I was playing quite well and putting myself in the frame for selection with Ireland. All I can do is get myself right and hopefully be back in that time frame. It’s a good opportunity to get other parts of my body right as well. I was kind of carrying a shoulder injury, which I’d done a couple of years ago, stuff like that. Little things with my running technique and stuff that helps me with that, so this won’t happen again.”