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6 Nations: Marshall set to take centre stage after shaking off injury

Ulster’s rising star has been backed to make his debut in place of Gordon D’Arcy this Sunday.

IRELAND LOOK READY to hand Ulster centre Luke Marshall his international debut at Murrayfield this Sunday after the 21-year-old overcame the dead legs he suffered in Friday’s Pro12 win over Zebre.

During his extensive injury update, team manager Mick Kearney said that the uncapped centre, “suffered a dead leg on Friday night, he worked on it very hard over the weekend, recovered really well and trained fully this morning, so there are no concerns about Luke.”

With Gordon D’Arcy ruled out with a stress fracture in his foot suffered during the 6-12 home defeat to England, and Fergus McFadden seemingly out of favour in midfield, the news of his fitness makes Marshall a straightforward choice to fill in at inside centre.

Certainly, backs coach Les Kiss (though stressing no decision has been made yet) is willing to trust in the untested Ballymena man.

“I think Lukey’s done a really good job all year.” Kiss said at Carton House today.

“We backed him in November to come in and be a part of our squad. He handled himself incredibly well. He’s in the picture right here and now and he’s probably bigger than ever now that D’Arcy isn’t around.

“Calculated risk?” The Kiwi added, “I’d like to say that he has been around, he’s done some good things, he has played in some really strong high-level games and we’ll back him.

Perfect?

“Will he be perfect? No, but what player is ever perfect. Do we wait until a player is absolutely perfect before we play him? I don’t see it that way.

“There will be parts you’ll say will be better, there’ll be parts you’ll say are great now. But if he’s the guy we select we’ll back him fully and he’ll do a job for us.”

While Marshall’s recovery was a positive from the injury report, there was less encouraging news on his Ulster team-mate Chris Henry. The flanker, ruled out for four weeks, will undergo surgery on a knee issue tomorrow. Mike McCarthy’s Six Nations also looks to be over. The Connacht lock suffered knee ligament damage and will be in a brace for four weeks.

Kearney is hopeful that McCarthy’s second row partner, Donnacha Ryan, will be fit enough to face Scotland after only taking a small part in training today. However, the medical team will closely monitor the Munster second row.

There was more assurance around the well-being of Brian O’Driscoll and Sean O’Brien – both of whom struggled through the defeat to England. Both men played a full part in training and will expected to be in their strongest positions when the team is announced tomorrow.

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    Mute Patrick Linehan
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    Feb 19th 2013, 3:27 PM

    That’s the thing about younger players they shake off injuries and recover quicker. Good luck to Luke Marshall I hope he starts on Saturday and has a good game, then hopefully more of the younger guys will get their shot soon!

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    Mute Cian O Donoghue
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    Feb 19th 2013, 5:32 PM

    True. Remember one of the Munster lads with a dead leg said on twitter that he had been awake most of the night with his leg in ice (or whatever they use).

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    Mute Carton Fox
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    Feb 19th 2013, 5:36 PM

    Who?

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    Mute Cian O Donoghue
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    Feb 19th 2013, 6:16 PM

    If I recall it was Felix but follow most of them so can’t be sure

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    Mute Jamie O Sullivan
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    Feb 19th 2013, 4:45 PM

    Hopefully this is the end of Deccies “Earls is a Centre” experiment.
    Hopefully.

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    Mute Cian O Donoghue
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    Feb 19th 2013, 5:31 PM

    Hopefully.

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    Mute Alan Quinn
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    Feb 19th 2013, 5:33 PM

    Dare I say it Dineen looks more centre material for Munster in his brief outings than Earls has done

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    Mute Cian O Donoghue
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    Feb 19th 2013, 5:38 PM

    I dare say your right. Dineen and double Jesus have looked solid if not spectacular in the rabo these past 2 weeks. More game time during the 6n hopefully will stand to them cos a back line of Murray/Keats/JJ/Dineen/Zebo (Earls)/Earls/Jones(Zebo) is mouth watering imo

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    Mute Alan Quinn
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    Feb 19th 2013, 6:13 PM

    Double Jesus, ha! The messiah has indeed returned and this time they named him twice

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    Mute Jamie O Sullivan
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    Feb 19th 2013, 6:26 PM

    That’s got a very nice look IMO, dangerous.

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    Mute Diarmaid Twomey
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    Feb 19th 2013, 4:08 PM

    This is great news, delighted with that decision. Ulster have got some quality players coming through, looking forward to seeing Marshall!

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    Mute Sean Canavan
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    Feb 19th 2013, 8:21 PM

    if this is an end to the of the Earls as a centre then great. Odd to overlook McF I’d of thought bringing McF in would be a no brainer

    lets hope Kidney has not go all mixed up and got confused thinking the Ulster 12 he’s selected is Paddy Wallace

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    Mute macca
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    Feb 19th 2013, 8:47 PM

    Question I want to know is why Wallace is on ulster team ahead of Marshall

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    Mute Cian O Donoghue
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    Feb 19th 2013, 9:07 PM

    Valid question. He’s been very good tho so I guess Anscombe rates him higher than Marshall…

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    Mute macca
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    Feb 19th 2013, 11:15 PM

    Also Wallace has improved this season big time!

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    Mute Áine
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    Feb 19th 2013, 11:46 PM

    Because Wallace has had a fantastic season and gave no reason to be dropped, but Marshall is ahead now. Anscombe rewards good form with starts so if a player has a good outing one week they will be picked the next, if they have a mediocre game and someone else is looking a chance, they will get to start. Happened after the N’hampton game in December, Wallace had his first dodgy game in ages and then Luke started the next 3/4 before getting injured. He’s started in the last couple coming back from injury.

    I really like this way of coaching it creates competitiveness in the squad which improves everyones performance.

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    Mute Patrick Murphy
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    Feb 19th 2013, 11:29 PM

    Was very impressed by Marshall in the Autumn, best passing 12 in Ireland!

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