Jamie Heaslip goes from backrow to mentoring role with Ireland

The normally indestructible Jamie Heaslip has become such a part of the furniture in the Ireland camp over the last eight seasons that, well, even when hors de combat the Leinster number eight remains part of the squad. So it is that Heaslip is in camp this week to be monitored by the Irish medical staff and act as a mentor, most notably for his probable replacement Jordi Murphy.

A tad curiously, unlike other players listed as injured, Heaslip was named in the expanded 36-man squad which returned to training at Carton House yesterday in readiness for Sunday's Six Nations collision with England, even though he has definitely been ruled out of that game due to the three cracked vertebrae he suffered courtesy of Pascal Papé's knee.

‘Up in the air’

"The Irish medics want to have a good look at him and to see what work they can do with him throughout the week," said team manager Mick Kearney. "The injury itself is treated more as a soft tissue injury. At this moment there is no firm timing in terms of when he will be able to train and play again." Heaslip's availability for the Wales game in Cardiff on March14th and Scotland in Edinburgh seven days later thus remains "up in the air".

Since making his Six Nations debut as a replacement in the opening 2008 win over Italy, Heaslip had been an ever-present in the championship until this year's first outing against Italy due to a shoulder injury.

He had thus played 37 out of the intervening 38 championship games – ironically the one exception also being the 2011 opening win in Rome – and started all but one of those. Hence, he is also in camp this week to pass on any of this vast experience and knowledge.

“Jamie has, obviously, got 70 odd caps for Ireland and he has missed very few games,” said Kearney. “He has captained Ireland; he is part of the leadership group in the team and he is vocal. He is a very clever guy and I think he will be hugely important in terms of whoever will be selected at number eight on Sunday.”

There are a few backrow options at Joe Schmidt's disposal, although not nearly as many as he might have hoped given Robbie Diack (dead leg) has joined Chris Henry, Rhys Ruddock, Robin Copeland on the list of absentees, while Kieran Marmion (bruised shoulder) Nathan White (back spasms) returned to their provinces. With Iain Henderson and Tommy O'Donnell suffering a dead leg and concussion over the weekend the management called Billy Holland and Roger Wilson into camp.

Henderson is expected to train fully from today onwards, while Kearney intimated O’Donnell, who was running yesterday, would be available. “He’s on the return to play protocols but he has started them so our belief is that he may well be available. Tommy obviously came in and did a great job against Italy so to have him in the mix for Sunday would certainly be beneficial.”

Reshuffle

One option would be to shift Peter O’Mahony or Seán O’Brien to number eight, and thus promote Henderson, Murphy or O’Donnell alongside them, but this would mean an additional reshuffle, whereas when Heaslip was ruled out of the opener in Rome, Murphy was a straight replacement.

Schmidt clearly admires Murphy’s work ethic and skills set across the backrow, as does O’Mahony for that matter. “Jordi is a quality player. He’s well rounded, well able to carry hard and do the grunt work, but he’s got a good set of skills. He’s got a lovely pass, good lineout option. He’s a quality all-rounded player and it’s great to have guys like him, Tommy O’Donnell, all the guys competing for the backrow. I think it is a good place to be and we are pushing each other on.”

Some Ireland players are more irreplaceable than others, so to speak, and the management were particularly grateful that Johnny Sexton came through 65 minutes of Racing Metro’s 13-all draw with Clermont on Saturday.

“Johnny is great,” said Kearney. “Yeah, he is in really good form, He played, what, 63/64 minutes on Saturday night, got through really well, got home Sunday, came into camp, trained fully and really well this morning . . . ”

There will also be discussions about the prop positions, and the bench cover for the outside backs, with the team and replacements to be unveiled at lunchtime on Friday.