Ireland camp react to losing 'phenomenal' Tadhg Beirne
Grand Slam-chasing Ireland are confident they have sufficient squad depth to cope without injured lock Tadhg Beirne for the remainder of the Guinness Six Nations.
The 31-year-old Munster player has been ruled out for up to 12 weeks due to the ankle issue he sustained during Saturday’s 32-19 win over France in Dublin.
British and Irish Lion Beirne, who has played a key role in his country’s rise to the top of the world rankings, left the Aviva Stadium on crutches and was scheduled to undergo surgery on Thursday.
Ireland have already dealt with significant injury setbacks in the opening two weeks of the tournament, with influential prop Tadhg Furlong and first-choice scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park yet to feature and star hooker Dan Sheehan sitting out against Les Bleus.
While the loss of Beirne is another major blow, defence coach Simon Easterby is optimistic Andy Farrell’s side are well placed to manage.
“Tadhg has been phenomenal, hasn’t he, over the last couple of seasons,” Easterby told a press conference.
“But like we’ve already had to do over the course of this championship, we’ve had to adapt and that’s testament to the squad and the work the players have put in that even those guys who might not expect to be involved step in and the standard and performance doesn’t drop.
“It’s really unfortunate that we’ve lost Tadhg but we’re very fortunate with the stocks that we have available to us in his position.
“Other players have stepped in and the performance hasn’t dipped so I guess that’s part and parcel of the game.
“The mentality was a couple of years ago to make sure we have more than just 30, 31, 32, 33 players available, we certainly have drilled down into players underneath those and we feel we’re in a much better place to lose someone like Tadhg and not lose performance in players that come in.”
Head coach Farrell said following the weekend match that Beirne’s issue “did not look great”, with his fears subsequently confirmed by an IRFU statement on Thursday morning.
Ireland sit top of the championship table on the back of bonus-point wins over Wales and France ahead of a round-three trip to Italy on February 25.
Ulster captain Iain Henderson replaced Beirne against France and is the obvious choice to come into the second row to partner James Ryan in Rome, while Leinster pair Ryan Baird and Joe McCarthy and Connacht’s Cian Prendergast are other options.
In more positive news for Farrell, captain Johnny Sexton and hookers Rob Herring and Sheehan may be available at Stadio Olimpico, while Easterby is upbeat about Furlong featuring at some stage of the competition.
“He’s in a really good place but he knows his own body and understands how that works,” Easterby said of the Leinster tighthead, who has been sidelined by a calf complaint.
“We’re very hopeful, and so is he, that he will be involved at some point during this Six Nations.
“But it’s the sort of injury, like a lot of soft-tissue injuries, that you want to make sure you don’t get wrong.
“You want to make sure you get it right and they feel like they’ve got enough in the bank in terms of exposure to the high intensity of the game.”
Skipper Sexton is rehabilitating the groin he injured against Fabien Galthie’s reigning Six Nations champions in the hope of being fit to return to training next week.
Herring is undergoing return-to-play protocols after sustaining a nasty head blow in a high tackle from France prop Uini Atonio, while fellow number two Sheehan is recovering well from his hamstring problem.
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments