Henshaw doubtful but Joey Carbery could make comeback from ankle surgery
Sunday 15 September 2019 15:39, UK
Joe Schmidt says Robbie Henshaw is "likely" to miss Ireland's World Cup opener against Scotland on Sunday.
Head coach Schmidt admitted Henshaw pulled up with a tight hamstring in training on Saturday, leaving the Leinster star struggling to be ready to take on the Scots in Yokohama.
Schmidt confirmed, however, that Ulster's Will Addison has not been called out to Japan as yet, with the Kiwi coach hoping Henshaw can still play a part in the tournament.
British and Irish Lion Henshaw's absence would prove a sizeable loss to Ireland for their crucial Pool A opener, but Schmidt is confident in the depth offered by Bundee Aki, Garry Ringrose and Chris Farrell as alternative options at centre.
"Robbie pulled up with a tightness in his hamstring, he has a scan at 2pm today [Sunday] and that will give us more information," said Schmidt.
"I just have to wait for more news. I think the fact that he pulled up, he wasn't accelerating at the time, we'd be hopeful it's not too bad.
"Is it likely to rule him out of this week? Yeah you'd have to say it is likely, the fact that he did pull up.
"But we'd be hopeful it's not too bad. I don't want to guess when we'll get the scan this afternoon."
Ulster dropped Addison to the bench for their pre-season clash in Glasgow but Schmidt insisted the former England U20 international has not been called out to Japan.
"No he's not on his way over," said Schmidt.
"That was precautionary, just to make sure that we had fit and able cover should we need a replacement for Robbie.
"We'll have to wait for the results of the scan to find out exactly Robbie's issue, but it could yet just be a cramp or something like that, because we've been travelling of course.
"But if it is more than that and we do leave him out this week, we do feel we've got good cover in the centres."
Carbery could return against Scotland
Meanwhile, Joey Carbery is poised to complete an "incredible" recovery from ankle surgery in time for Sunday's game against Scotland.
The Munster fly-half suffered an ankle ligament injury in Ireland's opening World Cup warm-up win over Italy on August 10.
Schmidt says Carbery is expected to return to full training on Monday while forwards coach Simon Easterby hailed the 23-year-old's impressive job to get back to fitness so quickly.
"We were hugely disappointed for him when he went down against Italy, but he, and the medical and strength and conditioning staff have done an incredible job to get him to this point," said Easterby.
"If there wasn't the confidence within him and what the guys could do with him over the period from when he got injured he wouldn't have travelled.
"And I think that was largely due to the confidence that he brought, but also the confidence that the strength and conditioning staff and the medics brought to the whole thing.
"There was plenty of discussion over it, because it was such an important decision to take, on someone coming with an injury.
"But I think he and the guys around him have worked incredibly hard to get to this stage."
Ireland are also hoping for good news on Keith Earls. The Munster wing is battling to shake off a thigh complaint, and is likely to start against Scotland if fit.
"Joey Carbery has trained well on Saturday and will train fully with the team on Monday," said Schmidt.
"Keith will either train Wednesday or Friday, so he's close as well.
"So it just means that apart from Robbie we're hopefully not too badly off."
