Ireland downplay Sam Prendergast injury concern

Ireland quartet Tadhg Furlong, Mack Hansen, James Lowe and Ronan Kelleher are on course to be fit for Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations finale away to Italy.

Prop Furlong missed the opening four rounds of the championship due to a calf issue and has not played competitively since Leinster’s Champions Cup win over La Rochelle on January 12.

Hansen sat out Saturday’s 42-27 loss to title rivals France because of a quad strain, while a back spasm caused fellow wing Lowe to withdraw during the warm-up.

Hooker Kelleher started his country’s victories over England and Scotland but has been sidelined for the last two matches with a neck problem.

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Centre Garry Ringrose is also set to return to contention in Rome after serving a suspension following his red card in Ireland’s round-three victory in Wales.

Attack coach Andrew Goodman told reporters on Tuesday: “They (Lowe and Kelleher) were both out there on the field today running around, so it’s looking pretty good. They’re both making good progress.

“Tadhg was back training. He’s been involved with the team the last little bit but was out there and fully involved today. Obviously Garry is back from his suspension as well and Mack Hansen is available.”

Ireland must win at Stadio Olimpico in the first of the round-five matches to remain in title contention and then hope second-placed England and table-topping France slip up against Wales and Scotland respectively.

Tighthead Furlong is potentially poised to play at international level for the first since last summer’s tour of South Africa, having also been absent during the autumn, due to a hamstring injury.

Asked if the 32-year-old is definitely available to feature, Goodman replied: “Yeah, he’s available to play. It’s great for him. It’s been a tough period for him.

“With Tadhg and the history of the injury, we had to make sure he’s right.

“We didn’t want to get him back in and have another setback so we’ve been a little bit cautious with this one to make sure that he’s 100 per cent right, so he can come back in and feel confident and comfortable.”

Goodman also allayed fears about fly-half Sam Prendergast, who trained on Tuesday with strapping on his knee.

“He’s just had a cut, nothing major there,” said Goodman. “He’ll be fine, yeah.”

Ireland’s Grand Slam dream was emphatically crushed as France propelled themselves into pole position for championship glory.

Goodman said a review of the sobering loss to Les Bleus had made for uncomfortable viewing.

“It was a very restless couple of nights post-Saturday’s performance,” he said.

“It was tough to watch and even tougher to watch back so there’s a lot of analysis that goes into it as a coach and conversations as a coaching group.

“We have to come back in bouncing today because the most important thing now is a response.

“We need to go out there and put out our best performance and for our fans, we want to give them something good to watch.”