PETER O’MAHONY IS in a race to be fit for Ireland’s opening November Test against New Zealand, with the Munster flanker expected to be sidelined for a number of weeks with a hamstring injury.
O’Mahony has already been ruled out of Munster’s URC clash with Leinster in Croke Park this weekend, and head coach Graham Rowntree says he expects the 35-year-old to return “some time in November”.
Ireland take on the All Blacks at Aviva Stadium on 8 November, before playing Argentina (15 November), Fiji (23rd November) and Australia (30 November).
“I don’t know,” Rowntree said when asked about O’Mahony’s return date.
“November is a few weeks away. It’s not months. We’ve had him scanned, there’s a strain there which he’s never had before. Typical O’Mahony! Weeks, not months, I can see him back in November.”
Meanwhile, Rowntree is hoping to welcome back Mike Haley (leg) for the Leinster game, with Tom Ahern and Alex Nankivell also in the mix to feature at Croke Park.
However Billy Burns is likely to miss out as he continues his recovery from a shoulder injury.
“I’d say Mike will be all right. He got a bit of a bang on his leg but we’ve looked after him,” Rowntree said.
“Billy I’m not so hopeful on, I’ll be honest with you there and I certainly am not going to push it and bring him back when he’s not ready to come back, but the others are certainly back in the mix… Tom Ahern.
“There’s more good news, like we’ve got Rory Scannell, Shane Daly, Paddy Patterson all coming back, in November we’ve got Diarmuid Kilgallen, Liam Coombes, Thaakir Abrahams, even O’Mahony, they’ll be back at some point in November, which is only weeks away.
“So this ‘crisis’, you know, we’ve lost a few bodies but certainly everyone is due to be back on the deck end of November from the recent injuries.
“Roman Salanoa will still be December-ish, but that’s pretty much everyone back on deck within the next few weeks in my mind, and I’ll hang onto that, and I’ve guys back this week and Tom (Ahern) is a big one and Ruadhán (Quinn), who has passed all his HIA protocols.
“But then you pick up Oli Jager at the weekend with his neck, we’re still waiting for more opinions on that. I don’t think we’ll see him until we get back from South Africa (URC rounds five and six).
“Josh Wycherley has got a neck injury as well, Mark Donnelly, suddenly you’re hit in the prop department so we’ll find out a bit about the younger props. We still have two diesel engines doing a great job for us, Steve (Archer) and John Ryan.”
Legend that undoubtedly POM is, at 35 he is of course not the player that he once was. Even fully fit, such is our depth in the back row – and at 6 in particular – that he’d have a fight on his hands to make the squad, never mind the team.
@Brian Corcoran: Beirne @ 6 with McCarthy and Ryan in the second row?
@Brian Corcoran: with Jack Conan now entering the fray (late) at 6, it is wide open.
@Brian @Patrick & @John: Everyone of these comments being true amd more besides (Baird, Izzy & Ahern when fit), Pete has a drop of something that nobody else brings. Sometimes it is worth sacrificing all that athleticism & power for just one spot that allows nuance, cunning, experience amd leadership. The benefit of Doris and VdF is the you can get away with it. This is one of the reasons I love rugby – sometimes it just defies logic!
Over the four tests and even against NZ, i hope they give youth a run, particularly at 6 and 12.
@brian o’leary: 6 will be fine imo, 3 and 9 are in dire need of depth
@Robert O’Connor: no.1 is even worse. Porter has to play most of the game. Healy and Killer are nearing retirement, and the rest are average. A lot depends on Tom O’Toole switching from tighthead and the progression of Wilson in that position for Ulster
I think this is a season too far with POM as regards Ireland . Conan, Baird , Izzy & Ahern should be ahead of him in the pecking order – we also have Kendallen, Prendergast & McCann looking strong too – unless he has an amazing ERC campaign with Munster I don’t see him being in the Irish squad
Izzy 6 josh 7 8 Doris. Some balanced back row
@Gary Galligan: I agree. Izzy, Baird and Ahern have similar attributes though and so one of them needs to make himself number one.
I’d like to see someone in the back row with a bit of that nasty edge too then. Look how much PSD-T loves smashing people. Maybe Gleeson or even Sheridan could be that player for Ireland in the medium term.
@Nicholas Farrar: trust Izzy. He’s a worldie of a player
Rowntree going through the injury list like it’s all an act of God . Whatever Munster are not doing or NOT doing as the case may be, they need to adapt their prep or recovery as it’s an issue since he took over and it’s not just bad luck .
@Michael Costello: you could be right maybe, but your probably not. you have absolutely no idea if its down to bad luck or miss management.
@Patrick O’Sullivan: questions should be asked though. Maybe it’s bad luck but statistically it now looks very unusual . What surface do these guys train on , what non-contact training do they typically do, what’s recovery like etc etc
@Owen ODonoghue: they do match review and recovery on Mondays. Tuesday they train in UL, they have Wednesdays off, Thursday they generally train in thomond. they rarely have any full contact training. they’ll do full pace training, but once a tackle is made, rocks won’t be formed/contested.
@Niall English: there you go , Tuesday is full contact for most teams – also changing up the training surface probably doesn’t help
@Owen ODonoghue: 100% but we are in no position to know for sure what it is.
Alot of leg/ankle/knee injuries
He had his last swan song during the summer tour in SA. He’s 35 and has slowed down considerably. Conan is the best number 6 in Ireland now followed by Baird. Beirne can also play there if they go with McCarthy & Ryan in the 2nd row. Deegan is having a mighty season again on top off last year so he’s putting his hand up. Izuchukwu is slowly making a name for himself and Ahern will be back fighting for a spot soon also. New Zealand will rip O’Mahony to shreds if he plays from now on.
Unfortunate injury for PoM obviously and hopefully he is back soon but this may be a blessing for Ireland long term. Finally forces Farrell to pick another squad captain and then pick a 6 without the pressure of having POM in the 23..does he go with Beirne there? Or a new option – Izzy seems to be the one with the most momentum currently with Ahern injured. Baird was the heir apparent after his permanent switch to 6 but I feel like he’s lost his way a bit. His form really fell off in 2024 bar a strong turn vs La Rochelle. He needs a big performance this weekend at 6 but can see Conan being picked ahead of him.
@Carmine Lorenzo: Bairds form hasn’t dipped at all but rather he’s become a lot more consistent in every area of his game. He had a great season last year. He’s continuing to add to his 21 caps. Izuchukwu is only 6 months younger than Baird and has no caps for Ireland and only really started playing well for Ulster last season. Conan is getting a shot at 6 so Leinster don’t lose him to Rcaing 92. Once he gets a new significant contract then Baird will be contesting fiercely, as he currently is. He’s also 3rd/4th choice lock.