Ronan Kelleher declares himself 'fighting fit' for Ireland's World Cup opener

Kelleher’s declaration follows a summer for the hooker that has been interrupted by a series of minor injuries that kept him out of all three of Ireland’s summer warm-up matches 

'FIGHTING FIT': Ronan Kelleher during Ireland's open training session in Tours. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Ronan Kelleher declared himself fight fit, ready and raring to go for Ireland’s Rugby World Cup opening game against Romania on Saturday.

Kelleher’s declaration on Monday follows a summer for the hooker that has been interrupted by a series of minor injuries that kept him out of all three of Ireland’s summer warm-up Test matches. Yet with first-choice hooker and Leinster squad-mate Dan Sheehan still rehabbing a foot injury he sustained on August 19 against England, Kelleher’s positivity is a welcome boost for the Irish management.

“I'm fighting fit and ready to go,” Kelleher said following a training session at the Ireland training base in Stade de la Chambrerie, Tours. “I've been training fully and I'm just raring to get going now. I had a few little niggles there over the last couple of weeks but fit now and ready to go.” 

Ireland scrum coach John Fogarty confirmed Kelleher’s fitness status, adding: “He’s trained, he’s in a good place so it’s a matter of making sure we get through the week. We’ve got some brilliant people assisting the fellas through their programmes and we’ve got a healthy group.” 

Sheehan, Fogarty said, had not been ruled out of selection for Saturday afternoon’s Pool B contest at Stade de Bordeaux and added that with Rob Herring having featured in all three summer Tests, Ireland were in a good spot in terms of competition for the number two jersey.

“Ah look, we’re so lucky, aren’t we, to have such talented hookers. Yeah, they’re aware that they’re in a competition with each other. It’s always been that way.

“I think that’s really important across the squad that we’ve got people competing for positions. You want a competitive group. It makes things difficult for coaches to select and that’s what we want. So, we feel we’re in a good place.” 

The assistant coach also believes Ireland have made suitable preparations for this weekend’s expected high temperatures in Bordeaux. Temperatures in Tours were 33C on Tuesday and forecast to rise to 36C on Wednesday and Thursday, the same levels predicted for Saturday’s mid-afternoon kick-off against the Pool B minnows.

Asked about the heat, Fogarty replied: “Certainly I’m struggling in the heat but we’ve had a brilliant pre-season. We’ve been to Portugal, it was nice and warm there. We’ve been down in Biarritz and on Saturday, it’s a pretty hot day.

“It’s certainly going to play its part at 3pm in Bordeaux but we feel we have stressed the players in that and there’s some really good strategies around how we’re going to deal with it. It’s certainly a factor but we feel we’re ready.” 

Kelleher endorsed that message with Ireland not hiding their intention to hit the ground running for the tournament from the first whistle this Saturday.

“Yeah, absolutely. Focusing on our stuff has been the main thing and really nailing down our own individual detail on that. We really want to hit the ground running and lay down a bit of a marker.”