Veteran Ireland prop Cian Healy could still feature at Rugby World Cup

Vastly experienced Ireland front-row Cian Healy is recovering well from a calf injury which ruled him out of the Rugby World Cup in France and could still feature at the global showpiece during the tournament’s latter stages.

That was the word from Ireland team manager Mick Kearney who feels Healy “would be a great addition” for later in the tournament, although he could only be called up if another player departed injured.

Healy was certain to be named in Ireland head coach Andy Farrell’s 33-man squad for the global showpiece in France but sustained his injury during his country’s narrow 17-13 win over Samoa in their final World Cup warm-up match in Bayonne on August 26.

Rehabilitation ahead of schedule

Kearney revealed that Ireland’s backroom staff are continuing to monitor Healy’s fitness after the 35-year-old posted a positive update on social media, saying his rehabilitation was “ahead of schedule”.

“The medics and S and C (strength and conditioning) would be in regular contact with Cian and I’m sure other players back home to see how their fitness levels are,” said Kearney.

“It’s great to see Cian back training and training well.

“Possibly later in the tournament, if we get an injury, Cian would be a great addition, if he was fully fit.

“I would say it’s good to see him back training but it will require an injury to another player for Cian to be able to come in.”

The initial prognosis on the 125-Test veteran’s injury suggested he would be sidelined for between five and 10 weeks.

The lower end of that estimate was reached on Saturday, two days after he posted an Instagram video which showed him working hard in the gym and running on the training pitch.

Healy, whose place in the squad was taken by Munster’s Jeremy Loughman, put a caption with the footage the footage which said: “It wasn’t easy getting here, but happy the body still knows how to recover ahead of schedule.

“Looking forward to getting back to it and will be forever grateful to those who got me to this point.”

Ireland are on course to reaching the World Cup quarter-finals as the top side in Pool B following wins over Romania, Tonga and defending champions South Africa.

The men from the Emerald Isle have so far been fortunate with injuries and had a full complement of players training on Saturday ahead of next weekend’s crucial clash against Scotland at the Stade de France in Paris.

Ireland’s contingency plans

Nevertheless, they have contingency plans in place.

“There was a lot of conversations with the provinces during pre-season as to how we would keep the players fit that are not in the World Cup squad,” said Kearney.

“And you saw that there’s a mini interprovincial series going on at the moment. Leinster played Ulster the other night and Munster played Leinster as well.

“Whether it be Jamie Osborne or Gavin Coombes, Kieran Treadwell, there’s guys that are getting regular game time which is brilliant because initially I think the provinces might have said ‘we may not start playing pre-season games until a little bit later’.

“So it’s really good from our point of view that these guys are getting game time and will actually be match fit if they’re called in, which is always a possibility.”

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