Kearney injury adds to Schmidt headache

Rob Kearney is understood to be a new doubt for Ireland’s World Cup opener against Scotland.

The experienced full-back is thought to have picked up a calf complaint in training yesterday, handing head coach Joe Schmidt an injury headache.

Robbie Henshaw is also “very, very unlikely” to be fit for Sunday’s pool game in Yokohama due to a hamstring problem, according to scrum coach Greg Feek.

But losing Kearney would force another backline rethink, with Andrew Conway and Jordan Larmour in the frame to start at 15.

The 33-year-old Kearney, who has won 92 caps, impressed in Ireland’s 19-10 victory over Wales that closed their World Cup warm-up fixtures in Dublin on Sept 7.

Henshaw picked up a hamstring problem in training and is expected to miss the Scotland clash. Ireland have opted not to release the full extent of his injury but a team spokesman confirmed the 26-yearold will not be returning home.

Asked if Henshaw had been ruled out of the Scotland match, Feek said: “Well, not really, but you can read between the lines. Robbie’s looking very, very unlikely.

“We’ve just got back from training and still sorting things out, but it’s reasonably positive in terms of what we saw. Some of these guys, they can improve dramatically, as opposed to the average human.”

Feek also confirmed that Joey Carbery trained fully on Monday after recovering from his ankle injury, leaving him well placed to feature against Scotland.