Schmidt hoping to bring back Heaslip for Wales clash
Ireland coach Joe Schmidt has said that he hopes to have Jamie Heaslip available to them again for the Six Nations trip to Wales next month.
Heaslip, who has a broken vertebra he suffered in the win against France last time out when he took a Pascal Pape knee to the back.
Schmidt included the Leinster captain in his 36-man squad for the England game so he could continue his rehab program with the national set-up, instead of returning to Leinster for his treatment.
Team manager Mick Kearney seemed a little cautious today when he faced the media at Carton House and was quizzed about Heaslip’s condition.
“He’s just in and he’s working with the physio’s and the medics but he’s able to do very little,” Kearney said.
“We cannot say at this stage when he’s going to be available, it’s just difficult to say at this stage.
“He’s been named in the squad just to come in and work with the medical team, there’s no other reason than that.
“The hope would be that he will be back for the Wales game – It was initially diagnosed as a four to six week injury and four weeks would put him back into contention for the Wales game.”
“That would be the hope but it is far too early to say as he has a lot of progress to make before we could me more certain on it.”
The rest of the squad trained today at the team base at Carton House, where Joe Schmidt will name his matchday squad for the big game on Thursday at lunchtime.
