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Doris, left, leaves the field in Cork today. Tommy Dickson/INPHO
6 Nations

21-year-old Doris back in contention for Ireland ahead of England clash

Head coach Andy Farrell also signalled a clean bill of health for Robbie Henshaw.

CAELAN DORIS WILL be back available for selection ahead of Ireland’s Six Nations trip to Twickenham next week.

The back row, whose international debut was brought to a cruel and early end by a fourth-minute concussion against Scotland.

The 21-year-old sat out training ahead of Saturday’s impressive win over Wales, but has taken a full part in training this week as Ireland decamped to Cork.

Head coach Andy Farrell also signalled a clean bill of health for Robbie Henshaw after the centre was withdrawn from the win over early due to a HIA.

“The reason we kept Caelan available,”said Farrell, “he missed most of last week, so (we wanted) to keep him up to speed.

“It was good for him after his return (to play protocol) stuff. He’s in the clear now and he’s had a good couple of days which is great to see from him.”

Farrell was enthusiastic about the training work his team were able to put in despite extremely wet conditions across Munster. The new head coach also said he was ‘gutted’ that the team could not undertake the planned open training session in Cork IT – the hit-out with the U20s instead moved to the artificial surface of Musgrave Park.

“An interesting couple of days. We trained yesterday and the pitch was soft. It was good, a decent session. The groundsmen had done as much as they could, but the rain was torrential last night. We got up early this morning and it wasn’t fit for purpose.

“We’re gutted, because we tried to transfer everything to Independent Park and we wasn’t able to do that so the kids missed out.

andy-farrell-speaks-to-the-team Farrell speaks with his squad. Tommy Dickson / INPHO Tommy Dickson / INPHO / INPHO

“We came down to Cork to connect with the Cork people and the 3,500 people that were gonna come and see us train – we could have connected and signed autographs at the end of the session. There was none of that because of the safety regulations.

“We had a care of duty to the players – the 20s and our lads – we ended up with a decent session in the end. We’re happy with that but gutted for the people of Cork.”

He adds: “We’ve trained in the past on heavy pitches and come away with injuries along the way. I think it was the right call for the team, gutted for the people.”

- Originally published at 14.12

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