IRELAND ASSISTANT COACH Paul O’Connell said they have no injury concerns at their training camp in Portugal as they continue preparations for their Six Nations opener against England in Dublin on Saturday week.
32 of Ireland’s 36-man Six Nations squad and four development players flew out to the camp in Quinta do Lago in the Algarve region on Wednesday, with Dan Sheehan, James Lowe, Jack Boyle, and Caolin Blade remaining at home to play for their provinces.
The Leinster trio and Connacht scrum-half are due to link up with Ireland in Portugal on Sunday after playing for their provinces.
England have been hit by injuries in the past week, with hooker Jamie George, number eight Alex Dombrandt, and scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet ruled out of their training camp in Italy, while first-choice scrum-half Alex Mitchell is nursing a knee injury.
In contrast, Ireland report that their entire squad is in good health.
“Everyone’s been training,” said O’Connell at The Campus training facility today.
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“No one is sitting out any training, which is good.”
Ireland now hope to see Sheehan, Lowe, Boyle, and Blade come through URC action unscathed before flying out to Portugal. Sheehan will captain Leinster against the Stormers in Dublin tomorrow, with Lowe and Boyle also starting, while Blade is at number nine for Connacht in Glasgow on Sunday.
There is one obvious absentee at Ireland camp, with head coach Andy Farrell now on Lions duty.
Simon Easterby has taken over as interim boss and O’Connell said there isn’t a huge difference.
“I’d say it has been business as usual really,” said O’Connell, who confirmed that his own role hasn’t changed.
Paul O'Connell speaking in Portugal today. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“We’ve a way of doing things before the first game. We know there’s generally 12 days before we play and it’s always a challenge to be ready to play a big international rugby match with only 12 days of preparation.
“We have a bit of a formula which we stick to, we tweak it a little bit to keep it fresh. But it’s been good.”
Ireland gathered as a group in Dublin on Monday, trained there on Tuesday and then flew out to Portugal on Wednesday.
They trained yesterday and had a light walkthrough today but will ramp things up tomorrow with a full-on pitch session.
“I think in the first week, you’re just trying to reintroduce our way of doing things and reintroduce our language and get players comfortable with that,” said O’Connell.
“For us [as coaches], we’ve probably been living in this game and that’s the challenge for us. We’ve been living in this game since the end of the autumn internationals, the players have had a busy period of European games, big inter-provincial games.
“Sometimes you want to come in as a coach and start working really hard straight away so we’ve to be a little bit aware of where they’re coming from, the language they have in their heads from their provinces, and we have to drip-feed in what we’re doing here.
“So that’s generally what the first week is for us, it’s getting back to our way of doing things, which very often isn’t too dissimilar to the provinces but there are subtle differences and differences in the language.
“So it’s about getting the players comfortable with our way of doing things in the first week.”
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'Business as usual' for fully-fit Ireland in Portugal without Farrell
IRELAND ASSISTANT COACH Paul O’Connell said they have no injury concerns at their training camp in Portugal as they continue preparations for their Six Nations opener against England in Dublin on Saturday week.
32 of Ireland’s 36-man Six Nations squad and four development players flew out to the camp in Quinta do Lago in the Algarve region on Wednesday, with Dan Sheehan, James Lowe, Jack Boyle, and Caolin Blade remaining at home to play for their provinces.
The Leinster trio and Connacht scrum-half are due to link up with Ireland in Portugal on Sunday after playing for their provinces.
England have been hit by injuries in the past week, with hooker Jamie George, number eight Alex Dombrandt, and scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet ruled out of their training camp in Italy, while first-choice scrum-half Alex Mitchell is nursing a knee injury.
In contrast, Ireland report that their entire squad is in good health.
“Everyone’s been training,” said O’Connell at The Campus training facility today.
“No one is sitting out any training, which is good.”
Ireland now hope to see Sheehan, Lowe, Boyle, and Blade come through URC action unscathed before flying out to Portugal. Sheehan will captain Leinster against the Stormers in Dublin tomorrow, with Lowe and Boyle also starting, while Blade is at number nine for Connacht in Glasgow on Sunday.
There is one obvious absentee at Ireland camp, with head coach Andy Farrell now on Lions duty.
Simon Easterby has taken over as interim boss and O’Connell said there isn’t a huge difference.
“I’d say it has been business as usual really,” said O’Connell, who confirmed that his own role hasn’t changed.
“We’ve a way of doing things before the first game. We know there’s generally 12 days before we play and it’s always a challenge to be ready to play a big international rugby match with only 12 days of preparation.
“We have a bit of a formula which we stick to, we tweak it a little bit to keep it fresh. But it’s been good.”
Ireland gathered as a group in Dublin on Monday, trained there on Tuesday and then flew out to Portugal on Wednesday.
They trained yesterday and had a light walkthrough today but will ramp things up tomorrow with a full-on pitch session.
“I think in the first week, you’re just trying to reintroduce our way of doing things and reintroduce our language and get players comfortable with that,” said O’Connell.
“For us [as coaches], we’ve probably been living in this game and that’s the challenge for us. We’ve been living in this game since the end of the autumn internationals, the players have had a busy period of European games, big inter-provincial games.
“Sometimes you want to come in as a coach and start working really hard straight away so we’ve to be a little bit aware of where they’re coming from, the language they have in their heads from their provinces, and we have to drip-feed in what we’re doing here.
“So that’s generally what the first week is for us, it’s getting back to our way of doing things, which very often isn’t too dissimilar to the provinces but there are subtle differences and differences in the language.
“So it’s about getting the players comfortable with our way of doing things in the first week.”
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Clean bill of health Ireland Paul O'Connell Quinta do Lago Training Camp