JARED PAYNE AND Sean O’Brien both sat out Ireland’s captain’s run at the Aviva Stadium today, but have not been ruled out of tomorrow’s clash with Australia [KO 5.30pm].
Nonetheless, their failure to train today will be a major concern to head coach Joe Schmidt ahead of a clash with the third best team in the world.
Assistant coach Andy Farrell says both players are carrying lower limb tweaks but insists that Ireland expect that an extra day of rest will allow them to “regenerate” before tomorrow’s November Test.
“No, as yet, no,” said Farrell this afternoon when asked if there were any late changes to the Ireland XV.
“We’ve a couple of guys that have a couple of niggles. The captain’s run is normally just a stretch-your-legs type session, so we made a couple of decisions this morning to rest Jared and Sean O’Brien.
“We’ll give them an extra 24 hours and just assess how they are in the morning.”
Farrell was keen to stress that neither player is a major worry for tomorrow’s meeting with the Wallabies, saying that the concerns are not serious.
“Just tweaks, just tweaks,” said Farrell of the injury types. “Just lower limb tweaks. That’s what normally happens during a week, you pick things up along the way and are still recovering from the game, etc.
“The main session was yesterday and we decided just to give a couple of players a rest today and asses them throughout the day.
“We’ll have a discussion in the morning to give them that extra little bit of time to regenerate themselves.”
Munster’s Peter O’Mahony and Rory Scannell have remained with the Ireland squad as potential injury cover and were present at today’s captain’s run.
Scannell would be making his Ireland debut if called upon in Payne’s absence, while O’Mahony would presumably come onto the bench, with Josh van der Flier promoted to the starting XV if O’Brien does not recover.
But Farrell again insisted that such a scenario is not envisaged.
“It’s not unusual at all really because, as I said, the work has been done. The session at the captain’s run – you can ask Rory [Best] about it – is just a stretch your legs out and orientation. It’s not a biggie for us whatsoever.”
Rob Kearney and CJ Stander have both come through their return-to-play protocols without hiccups and are fit to play tomorrow.
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