Injury concerns over O’Mahony and Kearney
IRELAND head into their November international window with concern over the fitness of vice-captain Peter O’Mahony and fullback Rob Kearney after the weekend’s Pro14 action. Joe Schmidt’s squad met up in Carton House last night ahead of next month’s fourgame series and the fitness of Kearney and O’Mahony is a major focus after both players picked up shoulder injuries on Saturday. Kearney was forced off five minutes into the second half of Leinster’s 31-3 victory in Treviso while O’Mahony picked up his injury during Munster’s 25-24 win over Glasgow in Thomond Park. The Munster captain was inspirational as his team fought back from 14 points down with 20 minutes to go and won the turnover penalty that saw centre Rory Scannell brilliantly secure the win from 45 metres with the last kick of the game. O’Mahony looked to be in pain as he exited the Thomond Park pitch with an update expected today or at Ireland’s first press briefing at their base in Chicago tomorrow ahead of Saturday’s clash with Italy at Soldier Field. However, Munster coach Johann van Graan was optimistic on the injury. ‘He (O’Mahony) came into
the changing room first with a bit of pain. He’s had a big work load on him. ‘All credit to him he’s in the form of his life and he’s brilliant fitness to come through these games. I don’t think it’s serious.’ Ireland coach Schmidt will be hoping the same because, while O’Mahony was always likely to sit out this weekend’s Italian game when understudy players are due to be assessed, the Corkman will be needed for next month’s marquee Tests against Argentina (November 10) and New Zealand (November 17) in Dublin. Andrew Conway pulled out of the starting team with illness not long before kick-off while Ireland will also be monitoring the fitness of centre Sam Arnold after he was forced off injured in the first half to be replaced by Alex Wootton, who scored the try to launch the Munster fightback. Meanwhile, Van Graan said he intends to see out his Munster contract following stories linking him with a move home to South Africa to take over the Bulls. ‘I am not going back to the Bulls. I signed a contract until the end of June 2020 with Munster. I’m loving every single moment of it,’ he said. ‘You’ll always have approaches, there will always be speculation. I’m staying at Munster and I believe in this journey. I believe in our squad and I believe in this club and I’m staying in Munster.’ Elsewhere, ahead of their November 17 showdown in Lansdowne Road, New Zealand coach Steve Hansen has praised the Irish system while calling for greater down time to protect players. ‘The one thing I’d really want is that everyone gets 16 weeks’ break between seasons,’ said Hansen. ‘It’s a worldwide problem and probably the team that’s managing it best at the moment is Ireland. They’ve got a good model.’