Conan knock 'a positive injury', insists Prendergast 

FUN AND GAMES...FOR NOW: Caolin Blade heads the ball as his teammates look on. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Seeing Jack Conan on the Aviva Stadium sidelines last Saturday, his injured foot in a protective boot, may have stirred unwanted echoes of his short-lived World Cup experience four years ago, but it seems a more positive outcome is in the offing ahead of Ireland’s fast-approaching France 2023 campaign.

Conan, 31, managed just 61 minutes of action in Japan, all in the opening pool win over Scotland, before a foot injury put paid to his tournament and the Leinster back-rower could have been forgiven for fearing the worst in Dublin last weekend when his involvement against Italy in the opening pre-tournament Test was curtailed after just 35 minutes.

Head coach Andy Farrell described his removal as a precautionary move post-match after Conan told medics he had felt “a loss of power” in his foot. 

The player did not travel with the rest of the Ireland training squad to Portugal’s Algarve last Sunday yet defence coach Simon Easterby yesterday allayed fears that Conan’s injury was tournament-threatening and that he hoped he would be available for selection for his side’s next tune-up, against England back in Dublin, a week on Saturday.

Speaking from the warm-weather training camp at Quinta do Lago, the Ireland assistant coach was asked if Conan’s injury was indeed threatening his participation in a World Cup with an opening pool game against Romania in Bordeaux not just 32 days away on September 9.

“No, genuinely not,” Easterby said. “I think Jack has had in the past troubles with his foot but it’s nothing like it was in 2019. He was pretty bullish around the injury and we haven’t had full feedback yet - but everything we’re hearing is that it’s a positive injury as opposed to a really negative one.” 

Easterby said a decision on whether the 2021 British & Irish Lions Test No.8 would be fit to face the English on August 19 would be made on the travelling squad’s return to Ireland.

“We’ll find out next week. We’re still waiting on an assessment and we decided it was probably best for him to stay back in Dublin and rehab and then we’ll get a better indication on how he is when we arrive back into camp next week.” Conan will be the only absentee from today’s “conditioned training session”, as the defence coach described it, with Pool C minnows Portugal.

Weekend reports suggested Farrell had arranged a behind-closed-doors match with the Portuguese in order to give captain Johnny Sexton some valuable gametime during his current three-match ban but the suggestion required clarification from Easterby yesterday.

“It certainly isn’t a full-blown game, it’s a conditioned training session which has been a collaboration between the Portuguese coaches and ourselves around trying to create a training session which is slightly different from the norm.” 

Describing as an opportunity to do some live set-piece work with Portugal and “run backline against backline”, Easterby outlined the benefits of some new faces at training for an Ireland squad that has been in camp together, on and off, since late June.

“When you know each other so well and you get the opportunity to train against each other for four or five weeks, you often cancel each other out in terms of what you’re trying to do in attack and defence, so this is one of those opportunities we have to connect up with the Portuguese to train against them and to challenge ourselves in a way that you normally wouldn’t do in a normal training week.” 

Captain Sexton, without a game since the Grand Slam-clinching victory over England on March 18 due to a groin injury, will definitely be involved as he continues his three-game suspension, due to end following the final warm-up against Samoa in Bayonne on August 26, a fortnight before the opening pool game with Romania.

“Yeah, he’ll be playing a part in the training session for sure, as will every other player that’s here actually. Every other player is available to train that’s travelled.”