IT REALLY HAS been a rotten run of injuries for Joe Schmidt and the Ireland team lately as players get injured during games, in training and everywhere in between.
Cian Healy picked up a nasty non-contact hamstring injury at the start of the season to keep him out for six months and this week another member of the front row club, Nathan White, suffered a similar fate from a seemingly innocuous incident.
The bicep injury suffered by White leaves Schmidt scrambling a little to fill the tighthead slot in his XV for the South Africa game on 8 Novemeber, as Mike Ross has only just returned to training.
“He just caught a player running past him, and whatever way it happened caused the injury,” Schmidt says of White’s injury.
“It wasn’t even a contact injury really. It was one of those innocuous things that do happen some time.”
There are three tightheads in the squad now – Mike Ross, Rodney Ah You and Stephen Archer – but none of the trio are in peak condition for the challenge of the Du Plessis’, the Beast, Gurthro Steenkamp and co. due to either injury or lack of playing time.
Schmidt is keeping his options open this weekend as he decides who to call into the squad.
“We have some other options and we will be watching them this weekend,” Schmidt said.
“Obviously Rodney Ah You is playing for Connacht, Stephen Archer will have some time with Munster, Declan Fitzpatrick will play too, Tadhg Furlong is starting for Leinster at tighthead and Michael Bent is at loosehead.
“Those are our other options. On Monday we will have enough guys in the camp to resource the front row.”
On the face of it, it might be tempting fate a little to start two tightheads who could be playing against South Africa but Schmidt stressed that at this moment in time, Ah You and Archer are too undercooked for the Springbok challenge.
“It’s a catch-22 [whether to rest the tightheads this weekend],” Schmidt said.
“Because Nathan White is a starting prop and has dominated the playing time, Rodney needs some more game time. Tadhg Furlong needs the game time and Declan Fitzpatrick has been massively underplayed due to a succession of injuries and Stephen Archer the same.”
Schmidt also gave an update on Ireland’s incumbent at tighthead, Mike Ross, who took part in training today. However, Schmidt was keen to point out that having not played a game since the beginning of October, Ross is a little behind.
“Mike has been working really hard but there is nothing like game conditioning and game awareness,” Schmidt said. “You want guys to have had that because you want it to be second nature to them when they do something.”
