Andy Farrell sweating over James Lowe as Ireland release 11 players for URC duty
James Lowe (left) is a potential doubt for the rest of Ireland's Six Nations campaign, after suffering a groin injury against England
Ireland are sweating over the fitness of star winger James Lowe, with the British and Irish Lions tourist set for further assessments on a groin injury.
Lowe, who returned to the starting XV for their win against Italy, suffered the injury just 18 minutes into Ireland’s victory over England at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, and was replaced by Tommy O’Brien soon after.
This update comes following Andy Farrell’s initial assessment of the injury, with the head coach telling the assembled media: “It didn’t look too good. It is what it is.”
Ireland sweat over James Lowe fitness
There is good news for Ireland, however, with Jack Conan set to return to full training after overcoming an illness. The back-rower was initially named on the bench for the win against England, but withdrew on the day of the Test with Cian Prendergast taking his place.
Elsewhere, Harry Byrne, Nathan Doak, Edwin Edogbo, Tom Farrell, Cormac Izuchukwu, Michael Milne, Darragh Murray, Jude Postlethwaite, Cian Prendergast, Tom Stewart and Bryn Ward have all been released from the wider training squad to return to their club sides this weekend, with the United Rugby Championship (URC) returning from its Six Nations slumber during the fallow week.
The remaining players within the Test squad will gather for a two-day camp on Wednesday (25th February), as Farrell’s side begin their preparations for their round four clash with Wales at the Aviva Stadium on Friday, 6th March.
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Ireland head into the fallow week with their title drive firmly back on track after the resounding win over England, with the men in green up to third in the table and just six points behind leaders France; but will need to win against Wales and hope Scotland deny Les Bleus the title next weekend if they hope to go into the final weekend with a shot at the silverware.
“What will be, will be,” said captain Caelan Doris on their title hopes. “We’ve got a final week. We’ll review the start of the competition, see how much we’ve grown. The important part is to keep doing that in the last two weeks.”