DAN SHEEHAN, JACK Conan, and Dave Kilcoyne have all been ruled out of Ireland’s World Cup opener against Romania on Saturday in Bordeaux.
Ireland forwards coach Paul O’Connell confirmed today that the clash with the Romanians will come too soon for the trio of forwards.
There had been optimism in Ireland camp about Conan and Kilcoyne potentially recovering for the Pool B fixture, but they won’t be available.
First-choice hooker Sheehan injured his foot against England three weekends ago and remains on the comeback trail, although Ireland will welcome Rónan Kelleher back from injury this weekend.
Loosehead prop Dave Kilcoyne suffered a hamstring injury during pre-season and is still completing his rehabilitation, meaning that Andrew Porter and Jeremy Loughman will both be involved against Romania this weekend.
Number eight Conan has been out of action since he picked up a foot injury five weekends ago in Ireland’s first warm-up game against Italy.
O’Connell said that Kilcoyne “should be OK” for Ireland’s second pool game against Tonga.
He indicated that Sheehan and Conan might also return for that Tonga match, although that seems less sure.
“Yeah. At the moment anyway, yeah,” said O’Connell.
