A KNEE INJURY sustained by Luke Fitzgerald in Saturday’s Pro12 final looks likely to open up an international opportunity for Connacht’s Matt Healy.
Healy capped off another terrific season with a game-breaking performance in the Connacht’s 20 – 10 triumph over Leinster.
The former Lansdowne man is uncapped at Test level, but Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt today admitted he appears to be a natural fit for a like-for-like replacement for Fitzgerald. However, fullback Tiernan O’Halloran is another clear option available.
“The back three were outstanding at the weekend. Between Matt and Tiernan, they had a super game and that immediately put pressure on their opponents.
Contention
“Unfortunately Luke Fitzgerald picked up a knee injury in the game and he will be replaced and one of the Connacht players is right in the frame to be his replacement. We’ve got that information, there are other guys we’re waiting on information for and we’ll firm things up after that.
“Matt would certainly be one of the guys. One of the advantages with him is he’s a left-footed left winger; like for like with Luke Fitzgerald and he’d be certainly a guy who’s in contention.”
Schmidt explained that the decision was likely to be finalised this evening, the delay arising out of the coaching ticket’s presence at the funeral of Devin Toner’s father this morning.
“Some of those decisions might have been able to be made this morning but we haven’t had the opportunity to get together. We’ll make decisions this evening and we’ll have someone else in camp tomorrow and it could well be Matt.
Asked why neither O’Halloran or the Pro12′s joint top try-scorer Healy were called for the original squad last week, Schmidt issued a flat response.
“Look, they’re discussions I have with players.”
However, he had earlier described some of the thought process around his general selection.
“When you’re naming a squad, you’re trying to get a balance and we’ve tried to get the best balance we can.
“You’re never going to get every decision right, but we have looked through footage and watched individuals for periods of time, watching them off the ball as well as on the ball and tried to make the best decisions on that basis.
“Including some of the combinations that have worked for us and we’d hope would work again.”
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