THE CHANCES OF Rob Kearney being fit in time for Ireland’s November Test against Argentina are increasingly unlikely, with the fullback limited to a reduced role in this morning’s squad session at Carton House.
Kearney has been receiving treatment for a shoulder injury he sustained during Leinster’s Guinness Pro14 victory over Benetton last month, and remains a serious doubt for Saturday’s clash at the Aviva Stadium [KO 6.30pm, RTÉ].
The 32-year-old continued to work with the Ireland medical staff on Tuesday morning and will be assessed further before the squad break up for their day off later this evening.
“Rob was working with the physios today,” Ireland scrum coach Greg Feek said.
“We will see how he goes but it is just a case of getting there. We will have our reviews this afternoon and see how he comes that. We will wait and see how he comes through. He was doing stuff with the medics and is on his return [to play].
“Hopefully things will progress for him. Firstly Rob Kearney is Rob Kearney, he’s a good man to have in the team, offers a lot of experience. In saying that we have good depth in the squad. This series is all about that, testing our depth in the squad, making sure that people can slot in and things can carry on.”
When asked to put a figure on Kearney’s chances of being fit for Ireland’s second Test of this Autumn schedule, Feek added: “I only ever deal in percentages when it comes to sharing a pie. He’s probably in the middle, 50 per cent.”
Should Kearney fail to win his fitness battle, Joe Schmidt — who has no other injury concerns — will turn to Jordan Larmour, Andrew Conway and Will Addison as options to deputise in the number 15 jersey.
Larmour, on the back of his dazzling hat-trick against Italy in Chicago, has staked his claim for selection, while Munster’s Conway has impressed Schmidt during his time in camp in Australia and Chicago.
“You’ve got guys in the team who are threats in attack and he has got lots of senior guys around him who are helping him all the time,” Feek said of Larmour.
“That’s part of the benefit of our culture in the team, guys like Jordan who has got obvious X-factor but he can grow with the coaching and senior guys around him. That’s the beauty of him being on the pitch, getting these big games.”
Having arrived home in two groups from Chicago yesterday morning, the Ireland squad had their first pitch session of the week at their Kildare base earlier, as preparations intensify for the visit of Argentina to Dublin.
“We have a pretty straightforward way of playing,” Feek continued. “We had one preparation week last week, we had one [session] today.
You can’t get too carried away with too many things but you want to make sure guys are getting a really good opportunity to have the right preparation so they can put the best case forward. I think at the moment that’s probably the key focus for us. We keep things pretty simple but the detail within that is the key for us, and getting that right.
Leinster’s Dan Leavy and the Munster pair of John Ryan and Sammy Arnold have not yet joined up with the squad having been in South Africa with their provinces over the weekend.
Leavy played 80 minutes for Leo Cullen’s side in the Pro14 victory over the Kings in Port Elizabeth and is due into camp tomorrow evening, but the flanker is unlikely to be involved on Saturday.
“We’ve just got to wait and see how well he goes,” Feek added. “As you know, the detail in terms of slotting into our environment and being able to know your role and execute that is important. We’ll see how that is as well.”
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