Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Ireland camp react to losing 'phenomenal' Tadhg Beirne

By PA
(Photo by Dan Mullan/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

Grand Slam-chasing Ireland are confident they have sufficient squad depth to cope without injured lock Tadhg Beirne for the remainder of the Guinness Six Nations.

ADVERTISEMENT

The 31-year-old Munster player has been ruled out for up to 12 weeks due to the ankle issue he sustained during Saturday’s 32-19 win over France in Dublin.

British and Irish Lion Beirne, who has played a key role in his country’s rise to the top of the world rankings, left the Aviva Stadium on crutches and was scheduled to undergo surgery on Thursday.

Video Spacer
Video Spacer

Ireland have already dealt with significant injury setbacks in the opening two weeks of the tournament, with influential prop Tadhg Furlong and first-choice scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park yet to feature and star hooker Dan Sheehan sitting out against Les Bleus.

While the loss of Beirne is another major blow, defence coach Simon Easterby is optimistic Andy Farrell’s side are well placed to manage.

“Tadhg has been phenomenal, hasn’t he, over the last couple of seasons,” Easterby told a press conference.

“But like we’ve already had to do over the course of this championship, we’ve had to adapt and that’s testament to the squad and the work the players have put in that even those guys who might not expect to be involved step in and the standard and performance doesn’t drop.

ADVERTISEMENT

“It’s really unfortunate that we’ve lost Tadhg but we’re very fortunate with the stocks that we have available to us in his position.

“Other players have stepped in and the performance hasn’t dipped so I guess that’s part and parcel of the game.

“The mentality was a couple of years ago to make sure we have more than just 30, 31, 32, 33 players available, we certainly have drilled down into players underneath those and we feel we’re in a much better place to lose someone like Tadhg and not lose performance in players that come in.”

Head coach Farrell said following the weekend match that Beirne’s issue “did not look great”, with his fears subsequently confirmed by an IRFU statement on Thursday morning.

ADVERTISEMENT

Ireland sit top of the championship table on the back of bonus-point wins over Wales and France ahead of a round-three trip to Italy on February 25.

Ulster captain Iain Henderson replaced Beirne against France and is the obvious choice to come into the second row to partner James Ryan in Rome, while Leinster pair Ryan Baird and Joe McCarthy and Connacht’s Cian Prendergast are other options.

In more positive news for Farrell, captain Johnny Sexton and hookers Rob Herring and Sheehan may be available at Stadio Olimpico, while Easterby is upbeat about Furlong featuring at some stage of the competition.

“He’s in a really good place but he knows his own body and understands how that works,” Easterby said of the Leinster tighthead, who has been sidelined by a calf complaint.

“We’re very hopeful, and so is he, that he will be involved at some point during this Six Nations.

“But it’s the sort of injury, like a lot of soft-tissue injuries, that you want to make sure you don’t get wrong.

“You want to make sure you get it right and they feel like they’ve got enough in the bank in terms of exposure to the high intensity of the game.”

Skipper Sexton is rehabilitating the groin he injured against Fabien Galthie’s reigning Six Nations champions in the hope of being fit to return to training next week.

Herring is undergoing return-to-play protocols after sustaining a nasty head blow in a high tackle from France prop Uini Atonio, while fellow number two Sheehan is recovering well from his hamstring problem.

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

Edinburgh vs Clovers

LIVE

Cape Town | Leg 1 | Day 1

Boks Office | Episode 36 | Six Nations Round 3 Review

England A vs Ireland A | Full Match Replay

HSBC SVNS Vancouver | Men's Day Three Highlights

HSBC SVNS Vancouver | Women's Day Three Highlights

"I would love to play with Siya Kolisi" | HSBC Life on Tour | Vancouver

Kubota Spears vs Shizuoka BlueRevs | JRLO 2024/2025 | Full Match Replay

Behind the Scenes with the Stars of the Kenya Rugby Sevens Team | HSBC SVNS Embedded | Episode 7

O2 Inside Line: This Rose | Episode 3 | France Week

Watch now: Lomu - The Lost Tapes

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

R
RedWarriors 15 minutes ago
The Springbok selection experiment is far from over

SA and NZ were the main countries “Whining” about the draw that put SA/NZ/IRE/FRA all on the same side of the draw. Ireland, France and Scotland are well used to it. Most countries have come face to face with the biased draw and scheduling many times since the RWC was inaugurated in 1987.

Everyone agreed the draw was a farce , but yes someone had to pox their way through and that was SA. You get to play a France team in the QF before they have a knock out win under their belt. You won as the inferior team, the world saw that. If the draw had been harder for SA and you were scheduled to play Scotland the week before then you were out.

England were stronger for most of the match with a 9 point lead with 10 to go. They will be massively disapointed to lose from there especially with the non peanalty awarded at the end.

Lastly, you needed a red card to beat NZ. 100%. Not in doubt. It was a 1 point game. You were losing without the red.

SA beat what was in front of them. Not in doubt. That they were lucky is not in doubt either. That the draw made the win significantly easier for SA to get past the QF, is not in doubt either. You play France in the SF or final, you are losing badly.

So well done on teh wins. But less stop with the ‘Are SA the greatest team in history” rubbish.

‘Butt hurt’? Thats an Americanism to imply homosexuality? On about raping women now lobbing homophobic comments. Some of you Saffers, past and present have a very very disturbing attitude…historically and present day.

54 Go to comments
N
NB 2 hours ago
Have England suddenly become a 'lucky' team?

I think you need to look at some examples in order to get your facts straight.


If you look at the second gif in the article https://imgur.com/a/6QNcVtB#NG27wFf , you can see that Scotland are running the shape I describe, and the ‘flat option’ does not actively impede a tackler so has no need to retreat.


Ditto this one https://imgur.com/a/hNktXel#gbQSsT4 . There is no significant contact with a defender by the flat option, so why does it need to [over-]refereed?


I feel you’re trying to address an issue that exists mostly in your own imagination, not one that exists out on the field of play.

83 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ 'Wales' challenge now is to make the effort against Ireland their default setting’ 'Wales' challenge now is to make the effort against Ireland their default setting’
Search