O'Leary injury concern opens door for Stringer

OUT-OF-FAVOUR scrum-half Peter Stringer has been recalled to the Ireland squad amid fears that Tomás O’Leary may not be fit to face France on Sunday.

O’Leary did not participate in full training during the week due to stiffness in his back and, while there is still a chance that he will be suitably fit to take his place in Ireland’s starting 15, Stringer has been promoted as a precautionary measure.

In a statement released through the IRFU’s website, team manager Paul McNaughton said

Tomas has had a stiff back which has not sufficiently improved over the course of the week, so we felt it was prudent to call Peter up to remain with the squad.

Tomas is not ruled out of the game, but we will wait and see how he progresses over the next 48 hours before making any decisions on changes to the matchday 22.

Stringer had originally planned to travel to Italy with Munster for the province’s Magners League game against Benneton Treviso on Sunday. Duncan Williams is likely to start for Tony McGahan’s men in Stringer’s place.

In other news, IRFU chief executive Philip Browne has moved to quash rumours that the union was considering entering a Irish Sevens teams in the 2016 Olympic Games.

According to comments in today’s Irish Examiner, Browne has deemed the expense involved in sending a team to be prohibitively costly.

There are a couple of issues … But the one thing that is certain, and we’ve done a hell of a lot of research into this and spoken to most of the leading nations in terms of sevens rugby, the cost of participating in IRB World Sevens is significant, a six or seven-figure sum.

Now, bearing in mind … the marginal position we’re in at the moment, it begs the question where are we going to get a six- or seven-figure sum from? And if we don’t embrace to the fullest extent that means we’re going to be also-rans.