Baird leg fracture and Hansen setback add to Ireland’s injury woes

Mack Hansen has suffered a recurrence of the foot injury which caused him to miss the Tests against New Zealand and Japan. 

Ryan Baird suffered a fractured tibia during Ireland's defeat to South Africa. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Ireland’s bruising defeat to South Africa is set to have a knock-on effect on the provinces with Andy Farrell revealing that Ryan Baird fractured a tibia at Aviva Stadium.

Mack Hansen was also withdrawn in the second half with a recurrence of the foot injury that had caused him to miss the first two Tests of the month while Tommy O’Brien failed a Head Injury Assessment.

With Jamie Osborne having dislocated a shoulder in week two against Japan, it has been a costly November window, though Ireland have ushered back captain Caelan Doris to full fitness following shoulder surgery at the end of last season and also expect to have Hugo Keenan and Joe McCarthy back for the upcoming Six Nations, the full-back and lock having been sidelined since the British & Irish Lions Test series in July and early August.

Blindside flanker Baird, one of the few standouts in an Ireland team beaten 24-13 by the Springboks, was removed after an hour of the final Quilter Nations Series match of the month and now looks set to miss Leinster’s opening Champions Cup pool games against Harlequins and Leicester Tigers on the first two weekends of December.

“Ryan Baird, I believe, has fractured his tibia,” head coach Andy Farrell said. “He tried to carry on within all that as well, so some courage being shown there.” 

Hansen had returned in style from the foot injury he had originally hurt on the Lions tour in Australia, and which had forced him out of the Test series, and then re-injured playing for Connacht against the Bulls on October 17. That caused the wing to miss the internationals against New Zealand and Japan but his comeback came with a first Test start at full-back against Australia, covering for Keenan’s stand-in Jamie Osborne and scoring a first-half hat-trick in a man of the match performance.

Hansen managed 64 minutes against the Springboks on Saturday before hobbling off and Farrell said: “Mack has injured his foot again, so that's a little bit ongoing, so we'll see how that turns up tomorrow.” 

Connacht return to the URC this weekend with a home game against the Sharks at Dexcom Stadium on Saturday night before Challenge Cup ties at the Ospreys and then a home pool game against Georgia’s Black Lion on December 13.