Conan feared he was heading home but grateful to all the medical staff for getting injury right

AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION: Simon Easterby confirmed that Jack Conan is back training and that all is good. 

The timing would perfect if Jack Conan were to make his World Cup comeback against Scotland eight days hence, from an injury he feared would rule him out of the tournament.

It was the back-rower’s misfortune to be sent home from Japan four years ago having faced the Scots in Yokohama in Ireland’s opening pool game, and while a foot injury similar to the one he sustained at the 2019 World Cup threatened to scupper his France 2023 ambitions, a return after nine weeks out against the same opposition would be a neat closing of the circle.

“Jack is back... training. It's all good,” defence coach Simon Easterby said yesterday after Conan, 31, had restored the Ireland to its full complement of 33 players in Tours as the squad reconvened after a break that followed last Saturday’s pool victory over South Africa.

If he stays the course, the British & Irish Lions Test No.8 will be in line for his first minutes of the tournament, having limped out of the August 5 summer warm-up against Italy in Dublin with torn foot ligaments.

That the Irish management stuck by Conan, naming him in their squad on August 28 and bringing him to France eased a little of the sense of foreboding that bad luck would once again strike at the worst possible time but yesterday he spoke of overcoming the frustration of being sidelined and the relief of returning to the playing group after weeks of rehab in isolation.

Conan missed summer matches against England and Samoa and the World Cup Pool B wins over Romania, Tonga and the Springboks but it was not until he reached France earlier this month that some dark moments arrived in terms of him seeing any action.

“I thought I'd get back,” Conan said of his initial reaction to the injury. “I ran the Thursday morning before we left and it went really well, my best running session.

"Literally, two days after that it capitulated to some degree and I went for scans.

"I had flashbacks to sitting in some random Japanese hospital in the middle of nowhere with Ciaran (Cosgrave, Ireland team doctor) four years ago, with Ciaran again, and I was saying 'surely not? Doing it all again in the exact same spot?' Thankfully, this one's had a far better outcome but there was definitely a stage where I thought: 'this is me, I'm cooked'. It wasn't as severe.

"Three or four weeks' ago, I thought I was going home but to be able to turn it around with the work of all the physios, the docs and stuff - they've done an incredible amount of work with me and I'm unbelievably grateful.

"I'm training away, feeling good and just ready to add my bit of value that I can. The lads have gone unbelievably well the last few weeks, it's always a bit strange watching on from a distance and the lads are out on the pitch; I'm flogging myself on the rower or in the gym, it's great to be back."

Conan credited the Ireland coaches’ vote of confidence in him when including him in the World Cup squad and not only his conversations with Ireland performance coach Gary Keegan for allowing him to park some of his frustration at missing out on game time but also his appointment as a squad “sheriff” alongside Dave Kilcoyne and James Ryan, responsible for arranging a variety of forfeits for players’ minor misdemeanours in camp.

"I've sat down with Gary Keegan a good few times, because even those first few days because I wasn't training at the start you're somewhat on the outside.

"I could contribute, you're in the meetings and I was watching footage and everything else, but you are to some degree on the outside in comparison to the rest of the lads. You don’t get the highs of being on the pitch or winning games or celebrating big performances with your team-mates so I found the first week to 10 days really frustrating and tough to take.

“I sat down with Gary Keegan a good bit and we spoke about it a lot about just kind of relaxing, being okay with what was going on, putting my energy into getting better and still being myself around the environment. Still adding value when I can but it’s tough when you’re not directly a part of what’s going on, the day to day of the pitch or in the games.

“So most of my input has been punishing the lads for making mistakes the last few weeks with Killer and James. That was how I was staying relevant with the rest of the lads.” 

Selection against Scotland will make Conan feel an awful lot more relevant.