Ireland fearing the worst after injury to Farrell

The sight of Garry Ringrose in Ireland gear at yesterday’s training session was heartening in and of itself but it took on far greater significance later in the afternoon when news of Chris Farrell’s ill-fortune broke.

Farrell, man-of-the-match against Wales, had been one of 20 or so senior players training with the U20s when, according to Joe Schmidt, he “just got his foot caught and twisted and then got a bit of a fright”.

It looked bad at the time though. So it proved.

The Munster player actually finished the session, his colleagues laughingly labelling him Lazarus such was the perceived speed of his recovery, but a precautionary scan later in the day delivered grim news and an appointment with a specialist is now imminent.

Ligament damage, apparently. Any further Six Nations involvement unlikely.

So, (re)enter Ringrose. Schmidt had already delivered a positive progress report on the Leinster man. “I thought he was really sharp in training today and he was good against the Kings,” he said, “so he’s hit the ground running.”

The question was whether the 11-times capped 13 would follow up that successful return from injury last week against Southern Kings at the RDS with another Leinster run out, this time away to Scarlets, in two days’ time.

Cotton wool may now be the order of the day.

Breaking news: @Farrell_C93 unlikely to be available for rest of #NatWest6Nations through ligament damage. #TeamOfUs pic.twitter.com/W9yigKVCZM

— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) February 27, 2018

Ringrose is all but certain to start alongside Bundee Aki against Scotland on Saturday week even though the pair have never played together. It will, in fact, be Ireland’s fifth different starting midfield combination in seven games this season.

If Farrell is “unlikely” to play again in this Six Nations then time is running out on Sean O’Brien as well. The flanker has started running again after his hip troubles but he is not yet ready to change direction or engage in full contact.

Schmidt isn’t ruling him out. O’Brien is a “player of known value”, he explained, and one who has slotted back in from injury for big games at short notice before. We’ll see, but the news on Tadhg Furlong and Iain Henderson is more concrete and encouraging.

Both forwards missed out on last weekend’s 37-27 Six Nations defeat of Wales, and yesterday’s open session, but the plan is for them to take part in modified training next Monday and then full sessions on the Tuesday and Thursday.

Said Schmidt: “What pulling them out of last weekend meant, particularly Iain who was very close to being available and could have played, is we decided to go backwards rather than forwards and take our time a little bit more with that recovery process.” Among the other senior players not involved yesterday were half-backs Jonathan Sexton and Conor Murray. Sexton was absent entirely as he undertook his own conditioning work while the Munster nine did some shuttle runs separate to the rest.

“It’s one of those weeks where you can be a little bit varied in how you deliver what needs to be done by different players,” said the man in charge.

That includes Joey Carbery. It is yet to be revealed if he plays for Leinster on Friday.