PETER O’MAHONY AND his Ireland team-mates remain hopeful that Joey Carbery will be fit in time to feature at the World Cup, with just under six weeks remaining until their opener against Scotland on 22 September in Yokohama.
The Munster out-half suffered an ankle injury in last weekend’s warm-up win over Italy at the Aviva Stadium, having impressed in Ireland’s 10 shirt before being forced off.
Carbery had a scan on his ankle yesterday, with Ireland due to release an official squad update tomorrow afternoon.
It’s expected that the 23-year-old will be sidelined for at least three weeks, but it’s believed that Carbery is not set to be ruled out of the World Cup.
His versatility and creativity are likely to be important to Joe Schmidt’s squad if he does prove to be fit to travel to Japan, with Carbery capable of playing at fullback as well as out-half.
Carbery’s ankle injury is one of the latest reminders of the risks involved in the World Cup warm-up games, which are very much a necessary evil.
Speaking today, Ireland back row O’Mahony acknowledged that warm-up injuries are “part and parcel” of building towards a World Cup while underlining his hopes that Carbery will recover in time to feature in Japan.
“Fingers crossed he’s going to be ok,” said O’Mahony. “It’s a ruthless game. Hopefully he’s going to be fit. Not that it’s a reminder, it’s there all the time, it could be your last training session all the time, but you can’t look at it like that either.
“You’ve got to be positive and hopefully he’ll be ok. He’s a young man who has plenty of healing powers, I’d imagine. It would be a different story if it was me!”
Having had the first two days of this week off, Ireland will travel to the Algarve in Portugal tomorrow for an eight-day warm-weather training camp, having also visited before the Six Nations.
With no game this weekend, a clash against England in Twickenham on 24 August is the next fixture for Ireland, meaning Schmidt and his players will step things up another gear under the Portuguese sun.
“I’m looking forward to it, something different,” said O’Mahony of the trip. “We’ll have a bit of downtime but plenty of training.
“This pre-season has been tough, probably the toughest one I have done. But we’ve had great craic, I must say. It’s easy driving in the gates when you have a group of lads who you like spending time with. It makes life a lot easier, but training has been tough.”
To celebrate 40 years in Ireland, Marks & Spencer has revealed Peter O’Mahony as its first Irish sports ambassador, building on its existing sponsorship of the Munster Rugby Community programme.
