Ireland suffer injury setback as star forward ruled out of November internationals
Ireland hooker Ronan Kelleher in action against the Springboks at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
Ireland’s preparations for their upcoming end-of-year internationals were dealt a major blow when it was confirmed that experienced hooker Ronan Kelleher will miss the entire campaign due to injury.
The 26-year-old sustained an ankle injury while on duty for Leinster during their Round Three United Rugby Championship (URC) victory over Benetton in Treviso last weekend.
Unsure over how long he will be sidelined
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s Round Four URC triumph over Munster, Leinster head coach Leo Cullen confirmed that Kelleher had a procedure on the injury, although he is unsure on the exact time which he will be sidelined.
Apart from Kelleher’s absence, Leinster were also without the services of Joe McCarthy, Jimmy O’Brien and Jordan Larmour for the clash with their arch rivals at a sold out Croke Park which they won 26-12.
Cullen also had some positive news regarding Ireland centre Robbie Henshaw who is on the comeback trail from injury.
“Joe picked up a niggle in the game last week, along with Jimmy O’Brien,” said Cullen.
“Ronan had a procedure on his ankle so he’ll be gone for, I don’t know, four to six weeks. The exact timeline… I’m not exactly sure on that, he only just got it done during the week.
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“Robbie (Henshaw) is a little bit slower coming back in but we’re just managing guys with the niggles over the course of pre-season.
““So he will hopefully be introduced to full training next week and we will see as the week goes on. He is not a million miles away, he is up and running and everything.
“Jordan was gone from the previous week. He was due to feature, with a 5/3 split on the bench, but he picked up a niggle in training and hopefully he is not too bad.”
Massive setback for Ireland
Kelleher’s injury is a massive setback for Ireland head coach Andy Farrell, who is already without the services of first choice hooker Dan Sheehan who sustained a long-term ACL injury while on Test duty against the Springboks in Pretoria in July.
Ireland will head into their end-of-year campaign in a confident mood as they are currently ranked as the leading international team in World Rugby’s official rankings.
They are set to host New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji and Australia at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin during November.