THERE WAS MIXED injury news for Ireland at today’s media briefing, although Johnny Sexton has been given the all-clear by Ireland team manager Mick Kearney.
Jordi Murphy is unfortunately set for an extended spell on the sidelines after damaging the ACL in his left knee, which is set to rule him out for six-nine months, but Kearney gave a positive update on 31-year-old Sexton.
The Leinster out-half came off just before the hour mark of last Saturday’s historic win over New Zealand in Chicago, having battled a hamstring problem in recent weeks.
“Jonathan Sexton is good, he cramped up a bit after 60 minutes,” explained Kearney.
“He had not played a lot of rugby for the previous six or seven weeks so he came off with a bit of cramp. But he’s fine,” added the Ireland team manager, who confirmed that Ulster’s Paddy Jackson has also rejoined the international squad after missing the trip to Chicago.
Jackson was unable to travel as he faced questioning from the PSNI about alleged sexual offences.
With Sexton unlikely to feature against Canada this weekend, Jackson or Leinster’s Joey Carbery should start at the Aviva.
The Irish team arrived home at 6am on Monday morning — heading straight to Carton House with some members of the squad enjoying a round of golf at their team base.
“The rest of the match-day squad is in good shape following a very physical encounter but there is a fair bit of fatigue amongst them,” said Kearney, who explained that Joe Schmidt’s original 34-man panel had been bolstered by the addition of Niyi Adeolokun, Tiernan O’Halloran, Dave Kilcoyne, Jack O’Donoghue, Darren Sweetnam and Dan Leavy.
Ireland return to training tomorrow ahead of this weekend’s clash with Canada at Aviva Stadium before their rematch with the All Blacks on Saturday week.
Winger Andrew Trimble admitted that the squad are still on a high following their Stateside victory.
“It feels pretty special,” said the Ulster man. “It still hasn’t fully sunk in what we managed to achieve. We’re still kind of pitching ourselves. Myself and Rory Best we’re playing a few holes of golf and still trying to come to terms with just how big an occasion it was.
The performance, the atmosphere at the game, Chicago in general,” added Trimble. ”It as a really special week and a really special weekend for everyone involved.
“So we are trying to enjoy it for what it is and then trying to get back to a bit of normality and another game this weekend.
