THE CRUEL CUTS continued for Ireland yesterday, with Joe Schmidt having delivered the latest round of bad news to John Cooney, Mike Haley, and Finlay Bealham.
Schmidt reduced his squad to 40 as they travelled to Portugal for an eight-day training camp, bringing the injured Joey Carbery with them as the Munster out-half begins a rehabilitation process that the IRFU says will last between four and six weeks.
The three left behind – joining the previously cut Rory Scannell and Ultan Dillane – will naturally be devastated but Schmidt must go through the process of reducing his numbers towards the eventual 31-man squad he brings to Japan.
Cooney is unlucky after his strong form for Ulster in recent seasons and having featured off the bench for Ireland during this year’s Six Nations, but Schmidt has opted to move forward with Conor Murray, Kieran Marmion and Luke McGrath as his scrum-half options.
And thoughts that Cooney’s goal-kicking and potential ability to cover out-half would be useful in Japan haven’t dissuaded Schmidt from removing him from contention for now.
Murray is first-choice at scrum-half while Marmion has most often been Schmidt’s back-up preference in this World Cup cycle. McGrath’s 11 caps mean he edges out Cooney [8] in terms of Test experience, but it must still have been a tight call.
While Murray, Marmion and McGrath could all travel to Japan, there is also the possibility that Schmidt will bring only two scrum-halves, having done so for the 2015 World Cup when selecting Murray and Eoin Reddan.
There would, of course, be drama in getting a player out to Japan in the event of an injury just before a game at the World Cup, but the risk may be worthwhile.
Naming only two scrum-halves – as Eddie Jones has done with England – would give Ireland greater scope in another congested and competitive area such as the midfield, back row or back three.
Whether Schmidt does go with two scrum-halves remains to be seen but Cooney is now on the outside looking in.
Munster’s Haley was something of a surprise inclusion in the original training squad and, having been capped off the bench against Italy last weekend, returns to his province primed to push on strongly in his second season in Ireland.
Like Cooney, Connacht man Finlay Bealham will be disappointed not to have had an opportunity to at least show his quality one last time in a warm-up game.
Schmidt moves forward with six prop options – Andrew Porter having played on both sides of the scrum last weekend to suggest Ireland will ask him to cover both in Japan and bring only five props. If that is the case, Tadhg Furlong, Porter, John Ryan, and Cian Healy look set to travel – leaving Dave Kilcoyne and Jack McGrath to fight it out for the second loosehead spot. Taking six props is also a possibility, of course.
Recognised as a tighthead, Bealham has played at loosehead for Ireland before, albeit briefly in 2016, but Porter seems to have shown enough in training and against Italy to win the battle of the versatile tightheads. 31-year-old Ryan played loosehead at underage levels with Munster but Porter is the obvious choice to flip over if Schmidt brings only two looseheads.
Moving forward with a 40-man squad for now, Schmidt is facing the reality of cutting a further nine players by early September. Whatever way he and his coaching staff go, there will be more excellent players feeling hard done by.
Schmidt’s immediate focus is on pushing his players hard at their training camp in The Campus at Quinta do Lago, based in Portugal’s Algarve region.
With no game this weekend, Ireland will train hard today, Friday and Saturday, take a rest day on Sunday and then begin their match week preparation on Monday, with a clash against England at Twickenham looming on Saturday 24 August.
Carbery definitely won’t be involved in that tie, nor will he feature during the two warm-up games against Wales.
A four-week recovery would see him passed fit just before Ireland fly out to Japan but a six-week timescale would see him missing the Pool A opener against Scotland in Yokohama on 22 September. Even that high-end six-week recovery would be a decent return on what looked a deeply-worrying ankle injury at the time last weekend.
Schmidt would love to travel without having to carry any injured players but probably sees Carbery as worth making an exception for – the Athy man offering cover at fullback as well as being next-in-line behind Johnny Sexton in the number 10 shirt.
The Ireland boss has invested heavily in 23-year-old Carbery’s potential in recent years, meaning he already has 19 Test caps and is Munster’s first-choice out-half.
While Sexton is still the main man at 10 for Ireland, Carbery’s ability to beat defenders, create space for others, distribute with vision, and kick intelligently mean he has been an important figure in Ireland’s World Cup plans.
This setback is obviously far from ideal for Carbery and Schmidt will hope the recovery is as swift as possible, with no lingering effects. In the meantime, opportunity knocks for Jack Carty – having done well off the bench against Italy last weekend – and Ross Byrne, who seem likely to get greater opportunities in training and warm-up games than might have been the case.
Schmidt may be keen not to overuse key man Sexton in the warm-ups, while being aware of the 34-year-old’s need to find form at the start of a new season, so Carty and Byrne will be eager to grab any chance that comes their way.
For many of those who arrived in Portugal yesterday, the clock continues to tick as Schmidt ponders who the final unlucky nine are going to be.
