RUGBY NEWS:DAVID WALLACE has emerged as a major doubt to make his seasonal reappearance tomorrow after being rated as only a 50-50 chance to play against France at the Aviva Stadium due to a hamstring strain sustained in training last Tuesday.
As cover for the 35-year-old, Shane Jennings was withdrawn from the Irish starting line-up in Donnybrook last night and will be on standby as a direct replacement in the backrow.
Given last night was also to be Jennings’s reappearance after breaking his arm in last season’s Magners League final, the odds must be that he will now start against the French. Niall Ronan started against Connacht last night, with Chris Henry promoted to the bench.
“David had a slight tightening in the hamstring early in the week and we’re just going to give it until tomorrow and see how we go,” confirmed defensive coach Les Kiss after last night’s match. “We’ve got Shane Jennings to cover.
“It’s one of those 50-50s at the moment. We want to give it enough time to make that decision and then go forward from there. Jenno had a bit of gastric this week and wasn’t feeling fit today so it’s just a good opportunity for him; if he’s ready he’s going to be nice and fit for the big one against France.”
While not ideal prior to Monday’s cut-off point for naming the 30-man squad for the World Cup, the proximity of the tournament may well lead the management into thinking it is too big a risk to play Wallace tomorrow, but that shouldn’t mitigate against his chances of inclusion.
Regarding the match itself: “I think that’s the type of game we were after. Connacht certainly put it to us. They play that mass-up game in the ruck area; they can really destroy your ball with that type of choke technique, so we had to work hard with that. It disjointed us a fraction, but the discipline they showed, particularly early in the second half to just go with it and put the points on the board, we were very happy with. A credit to the boys. There’s a lot of tension around the place.”
Regarding the scrums, Kiss admitted: “They had a discussion at half-time about it and it will be ongoing. We shifted around a few things to fix it, but it will be something that we look at going forward.”
Leo Cullen admitted the first-half scrums had been a disappointment, but revealed the Irish pack had had little or no time to practice them this week.
Interestingly, Cullen admitted: “I think Deccie (Kidney) has been doing the rounds over the last while. Some people have an idea, some are still hanging in the wings a bit. It’s a bit of a tough time.
“It’s such a build-up to these tournaments. I’ve been on the wrong end of decisions eight years ago and four years ago. These things are in the distance for so long, and I’m sure when people sit down and set individual goals for where they want to be, this is a very big part of it.
“If you’re an Irish rugby player, that’s what you want to be at,” added Cullen. “You want to be going to these tournaments. It gets closer and closer, and there is always that anxiety. It has been a bit of an anxious time for guys, but when the squad is announced next week you’ll see guys settling back in to our shape. We can really push on, whoever gets the nod to go. It’s a very exciting few months ahead.”
Seán Cronin admitted that Connacht “got on top of us” in the scrums and attributed it to a lot of new combinations. He also said it was “a good physical challenge”.
