Murray Kinsella Reports from Quinta do Lago

IRELAND TIGHTHEAD PROP Tadhg Furlong remains an injury doubt for his side’s Six Nations opener against France in Paris next Thursday night.

The 33-year-old did not take part in Ireland’s team training session at Quinta do Lago in Portugal this morning, instead continuing rehabilitation work on the calf injury he suffered while playing for Leinster on 17 January.

Furlong is in a race against time to be fit for Ireland’s game at Stade de France.

Ireland assistant coach Andrew Goodman revealed that the calf issue is in the other leg to the one that caused Furlong repeated problems last season, with calf and hamstring injuries limiting him to just nine appearances for Leinster and Ireland before he had a strong run of fitness on the Lions tour.

For now, Furlong remains an obvious doubt to face the French.

“He was doing some rehab and he’s going through his process and he’ll be assessed going through Test week next week, so not ruled out, going through his return to play protocols,” said Goodman at Ireland’s training camp in Portugal today.

“We’re being really cautious with him now, so we can give him the best chance next week. He’ll be doing his rehab with the physios on the side, and then we’ll assess him at the start of the Test week [this Saturday].

Finlay Bealham, who had a knee injury recently, did take part in Ireland’s training session, as did fellow tightheads Thomas Clarkson and Tom O’Toole, meaning head coach Andy Farrell has other options.

Goodman said Ireland aren’t concerned that Furlong has another calf problem, following last season’s problems.

“No, he’s been pretty robust through training well with Leinster and had a good plan around his trainings and different little bits like that.

“I think it was the other side actually, so we’ll make sure we get it right and hopefully that won’t happen, recurring injuries.

Everyone else in the Ireland squad took part in the team session at Quinta do Lago today, including the likes of James Lowe, Jamie Osborne, Tommy O’Brien, Robert Baloucoune, Cormac Izuchukwu and Jack Conan, who have been sidelined recently.

One man who was not present was Hugo Keenan, who has left the Irish training camp to return home after suffering a fractured thumb in training on Tuesday.

Keenan had been set to make his long-awaited return from the hip injury that meant he hasn’t played yet this season, but he was unlucky to pick up the new injury in Ireland’s first training session in Portugal.

“For that amount of time out of the game, six months or whatever it’s been with his hip, he’s coming back so excited to get back into representing his country and he was training sharply, he’d done his clarity walkthroughs and he’s great for the squad, he builds so much belief,” said Goodman.

“He’s a guy that people can depend on. He’s consistent as a player, he’s a great lad off the field, so it was great to see him back smiling on the rugby field, and it was just such a nasty incident, in a non-contact drill. It’s just one of those things that happens sometimes.”

Goodman said it is still unclear whether Keenan will miss the entire Six Nations, as seems likely at this stage.

“He’s going home to see the surgeon now. We’re waiting for an opinion from him.”

But Ireland are confident that they have some strong candidates to step up at number 15 even with Keenan ruled out, with Goodman citing Jamie Osborne, Jack Crowley, Ciarán Frawley, and Jacob Stockdale as candidates.

“We’ve still got great options there and they’ve been competing out at training the last few days,” said Goodman. “When you look at Jamie Osborne, who was there for a lot of November, he’s back in contention.

“Jack’s obviously played there for us in bits. Ciarán Frawley’s been playing there for Leinster. Jacob Stockdale’s been playing there for Ulster, so we’ve got plenty of exciting options that we can have a look at back at 15.”