SEAN O’BRIEN JOINS the rugby nation in hoping that Cian Healy will have fully recovered from neck surgery in time for the World Cup.
The Tullow native, who captains Joe Schmidt’s team tomorrow against Scotland at the Aviva Stadium (KO 17.00), says Healy has maintained his positive attitude despite the frustration of not being able to train fully.
Loosehead prop Healy underwent neck surgery in May, after which the hope was that he would indeed be fit to feature in the World Cup warm-up clashes this month. However, a setback for the 27-year-old has lengthened his rehab and he remains absent from Ireland’s contact training.
The updates on Healy from Ireland camp have been vague, if hopeful, in recent weeks, but O’Brien is keeping his fingers crossed that the Clontarf man will return.
He’s a quality player and someone with huge power and strength and he’d be a massive addition to the group obviously,” said O’Brien at the Aviva Stadium this afternoon. “So if he does get back he’d be welcomed with open arms.”
“Cian is a strong enough minded person to know that injuries are a part of the game, and it is a difficult place to be, injuries backing up one after another, but as a professional rugby player that’s life.
“He’s done very well over the past number of months with rehab and he’s making good progress, so he’s fighting to be back as soon as he can.”
The images of Healy at Ireland training have been encouraging, as he apparently throws himself into all aspects apart from the contact sessions with enthusiasm.
It would be understandable for the prop to become somewhat downhearted as his recovery slog continues, but O’Brien says that hasn’t been the case.
“Cian is a chirpy and happy fella, the majority of times anyway – you don’t want to get him mad!” said O’Brien.
“He’s been very positive and he’s been working incredibly hard. Doing those rehab sessions day-in, day-out, doing fitness sessions on your own, that’s a mental struggle as well. But he’s kicked on and pushed on, and he has himself in good shape.”
Aside from Healy and the desperately unfortunate Tommy O’Donnell, this Ireland squad looks in relatively healthy shape. The three upcoming games against Scotland, Wales and England involve potential injury land mines, but players push that from their minds.
Luke Fitzgerald and Sean Cronin return from shoulder surgery tomorrow, while Marty Moore is close too. Indeed, O’Brien believes Ireland are in excellent condition, attributing it to a strong pre-season under Jason Cowman.
While Wales and others travelled abroad, O’Brien was content to get through this portion of the season at home.
It’s whatever the management and coaches saw fit for the players,” said O’Brien of Ireland’s training. ”For us, the last five or six weeks has been pretty intense and a lot of hard work.
“So we felt that we could get that done at home and approach it in the right way. I think it’s been pretty spot on so far and the players are happy to get home a day a week and see their families, it’s nice to have that.
“I think you know when you go into a pre-season how hard it’s going to be. I think you’re never looking forward to the fitness sessions, they’re always intense. There’s not a lot from the left-field that’s been thrown at us.”
