'We expect him to be fit': Boost for Ireland as Andy Farrell backs Dan Sheehan

The hooker had to be replaced during the victory over England last time out.

POSITIVE OUTLOOK: Head coach Andy Farrell during an Ireland rugby media conference at Parc des Sports Jean Dauger in Bayonne, France. Picture: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

Andy Farrell has declared hooker Dan Sheehan fit for next month’s World Cup, a huge boost for the Six Nations champions ahead of their bid for the William Webb Ellis Trophy in France.

Head coach Farrell was speaking as he revealed his team for Saturday night’s final pre-tournament tune-up against Samoa at Bayonne’s Stade Jean Dauger, for which he has made a dozen changes from the starting line-up which faced England seven days earlier at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.

First-choice hooker Sheehan started the 29-10 victory over the English but was forced off before half-time and replaced by Rob Herring. Farrell said in his post-match comments that the 24-year-old had “lost power in his foot” and Sheehan did not travel to southwestern France with the rest of the training squad for this week’s warm-weather camp, staying back in Ireland to rehabilitate his injury and visit a specialist.

After reports earlier in the week that there was the possibility of the hooker missing the entire Pool B campaign, starting against Romania in Bordeaux on September 9 and concluding on October 7 against Scotland in Paris, the head coach had the luxury of a diagnosis and prognosis for Sheehan’s injury and return to play.

"He's good, he's got a sprained ligament in his foot,” Farrell said. “Better than expected, we expect him to be fit for the World Cup."

Whether that would see Sheehan available for the Pool B opener in 16 days, Farrell added: "We'll see how he progresses and with all injuries you see how they develop over the period of time, don't you? But we expect him to be fit for the World Cup."

Sheehan’s availability may ease some angst around the selection of his 33-man World Cup squad, which he will name next Monday. Tom Stewart has been named to face Samoa in his first Ireland start having debuted against Italy on August 5. He is the least experienced of the four hookers named in the initial 42-man training squad although uncapped Munster man Diarmuid Barron is with the squad currently as injury cover for Sheehan. Rob Herring, who started against Italy and came off the bench for Sheehan last Saturday, provides cover for his Ulster colleague once more.

Farrell has handed Jack Crowley the reins at fly-half for his third Ireland start and second of the summer series of warm-up games. Crowley is set for his seventh cap and is partnered at half-back by provincial team-mate Conor Murray. The scrum-half is one of three Test centurions in the starting XV along with loosehead prop Cian Healy and left wing Keith Earls, who reached his milestone 100th cap with a try off the bench against England.

There are 12 changes from that game in the team named on Thursday with only right wing and try-scoring man of the match Mack Hansen, lock Tadhg Beirne and openside flanker Josh van der Flier retained from the Dublin outing.

Jimmy O’Brien replaces Hugo Keenan at full-back and Earls comes in for James Lowe while there is a fresh midfield pairing with Robbie Henshaw in at 13 and Stuart McCloskey at inside centre where Garry Ringrose and Bundee Aki started seven days earlier.

Andrew Porter makes way for Healy in a front row also featuring Finlay Bealham, who moves into the tighthead berth in place of Tadhg Furlong, as well as Stewart at hooker.

Iain Henderson will captain Ireland from the second row, alongside Beirne, while van der Flier is part of an all-Leinster back row with blindside flanker Ryan Baird and No.8 Caelan Doris, who have replaced Peter O’Mahony and Cian Prendergast respectively.

O’Mahony and last week’s captain James Ryan bolster the replacements alongside hooker Rob Herring, and props Jeremy Loughman and Tom O’Toole. Craig Casey is the replacement scrum-half and Ringrose is handed the number 23 jersey while Ross Byrne provides cover for Crowley as captain Johnny Sexton sits out the final match of his three-game suspension.

Farrell has backed them all to put the fight for World Cup selection to the back of their minds and concentrate on the collective performance that will advance all of their claims.

"There's no message, the messages over the last 10 weeks of us preparing has been around how to be the best team-mate that you possibly can be.

"How you adjust to that is the pressures of how you adjust to playing top-level rugby. They know that and will push forward with that in mind."

The Ireland boss added that there was a simple request in terms of how this team could improve on last week’s performance.

"I think we got better in the second game, we scored some fantastic tries. It's consistency, isn't it?

"That's why we're playing the warm-up games, to make sure that we get a bit of the rust out. Show some pictures of what's acceptable and what's not.

"We're here to take a step forward in our development as a team."

IRELAND (v Samoa): J O'Brien (Leinster); M Hansen (Connacht), R Henshaw (Leinster), S McCloskey (Ulster), K Earls (Munster); J Crowley (Munster), C Murray (Munster); C Healy (Leinster), T Stewart (Ulster), F Bealham (Connacht); I Henderson (Ulster) – captain, T Beirne (Munster); R Baird (Leinster), J van der Flier (Leinster), C Doris (Leinster).

Replacements: R Herring (Ulster), J Loughman (Munster), T O'Toole (Ulster), J Ryan (Leinster), P O'Mahony (Munster), C Casey (Munster), R Byrne (Leinster), G Ringrose (Leinster).