GREEN LIGHT
LEINSTER senior coach Stuart Lancaster has eased fears that a hip injury would rule Johnny Sexton out of action for Ireland in the upcoming November internationals.
As Sexton targets what would be a landmark 100th cap against Japan, Lancaster said he isn’t worried about the knock that forced the out-half off the field in the second half of Leinster’s win over Scarlets in the United Rugby
Championship last Saturday, the team running seven tries past the Welsh side at the RDS.
‘I think Johnny will be fine. He didn’t train today but it’s not an injury to be too concerned about for the November internationals, that’s for sure.’
There is an outside chance that he will be available for Friday night’s away trip to Scotstoun to play Glasgow Warriors, though the news from Leinster was that he would be ‘further assessed’ ahead of the game.
While Robbie Henshaw is on the mend after a foot injury, he remains in a race against time for Ireland duty as Andy Farrell’s side play Japan, New Zealand and Argentina on consecutive weekends, starting with the Brave Blossoms on Saturday, November 6.
‘Robbie has been out a while obviously, so he’s just getting back to running rather than training. How far are we away from Japan? Three weeks. Four weeks from New Zealand, so he’s definitely moving in the right direction for that, definitely.
‘Obviously, he wouldn’t be available for us this week against Glasgow so he’s out of that. I’d be pretty optimistic for them.’
James Ryan is currently following the return-to-play protocols after a head injury sustained in Scarlets’ game. With this being Leinster’s last round of action before the international break, Lancaster said they want to consolidate their place at the top end of the table after four wins from four.
‘We definitely want to get the win. Glasgow is one of the most difficult places to go. Friday night, the crowd is back in Scotland, and we’ve had some good nights there and some not-sogood nights. I remember a couple of years ago, they beat us fair and square. The last game we played against them in the Rainbow Cup, we lost 15-12 which sticks in the memory because it was the most recent.
‘Danny Wilson has done a good job and Nigel Carolan has gone there from Connacht, he knows us pretty well. Cillian [Reardon], our S&C guy, has gone there, so there’s a fair bit of knowledge.
‘They’ve just got a really good squad that play a high tempo brand of rugby. On the back of the Dave Rennie era, they’re very competitive and combative. It’s a very difficult place to go on a Friday night so we want to go and get the win and we know how tough it’s going to be.’
From a coaching perspective, Lancaster admitted that the complete break in action during the international window is difficult from a developmental point of view. ‘For the competition, they obviously want to see the best players play all the time which is why they’ve taken the games out of the November window.
‘If you look at the Six Nations, the only games during that sevenweek window are during those fallow weeks. So you’ve got five weekends where there’s no URC.
‘The real issue for us... we’ve got so many internationals away during November and the Six
Nations, so that was a great development opportunity for younger players who maybe ordinarily wouldn’t get game time.
‘So we’ve got to hit the sweet spot now to keep those guys developing without competitive league rugby. That’s something that’s in the back of all our minds.
‘I understand it from a league point of view but purely from a developmental point of view, I think we will need to, in the future, factor in some games in this window even if they’re “A” team games or friendly games.’