Blow for Kieran Keane as Peter Robb ruled out until December

New Connacht coach Kieran Keane has had his midfield options reduced with promising centre Peter Robb ruled out of action until December.

The 23-year old, who came on as a replacement in the PRO12 final win over Leinster 16 months ago, has undergone surgery for a hip injury and will be out of action for a few months.

Robb, who has made 25 appearances in his two seasons at the Sportsground, has begun his rehab and Keane is hopeful he will be back in action as soon as possible.

“Peter was struggling a little bit and we could have managed it, he came to me to let me know he was keen to get things cleaned up and we had a good conversation around that and we agreed it was probably impacting on him mentally that he was carrying that niggle so we agreed to go and get it done.

“So, he has had it done and it remains to be seen how it will manifest itself because when you go under the knife there are no guarantees, are there? We just hope for the best for Peter.”

Irish international Tiernan O’Halloran has returned to team training this week following knee surgery but a timeline on when he will be available for selection has not been set.

“We will be guided by how he pulls up this week, he’s getting fairly well treated at the moment and we just hope that his knee is ok. Structurally it is fine so we will put a little bit more pressure into his joints and see how he comes through,” added Keane.

The new Connacht coach, who has had to deal with an illness bug which has hit his squad this week, is looking for his players to bounce back after a disappointing 18-12 home loss to Glasgow Warriors when they take on the Southern Kings at the Sportsground on Saturday.

And Keane is hoping for a much improved display after a disjointed showing on the opening weekend.

“We are giving players responsibility, we are giving players responsibility but unfortunately on that day the structure of our attacking game went out the window and we never recovered from that.

“What we practiced for three weeks went out the window. But it’s gone and we can’t do anything about it but if we can learn from it and move on I will be a happy camper,” he added.