Leo Cullen, the Leinster coach, believes Marty Moore, the tighthead prop, should recover from the foot injury he sustained two weeks ago in time to make it into the Irish World Cup squad for next month’s competition.
“He was due to play with us last weekend but he had a problem with his foot that flared up,” said Cullen. “He has been under the national [medical] eyes since and we haven’t seen him back with us. The honest answer is that I am not sure where he sits or whether he is going to be involved with Ireland this week. That would have been part of the original plan but he had an issue that flared up with his foot which I don’t think is too serious.”
Cullen, installed as Leinster’s new coach last Wednesday, also expressed the view that Ian Madigan could potentially provide cover as a third scrum half in the Irish squad.
“Ian Madigan is a very good footballer,” said Cullen. “He can pass, he can kick, he can manage the game, he’s tough and a strong defender; so potentially yeah [he could offer an option as a makeshift No 9).”
The make-up of the Irish squad for the World Cup will allow Cullen next week to plan for the opening rounds of the new season and he said that having Gordon D’Arcy available would be a boost.
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“I would have to have a good chat with Gordon about it. Having a guy of his experience would be invaluable for some of the guys in the squad. It just depends on the whole make-up of the group. Everything becomes a bit more apparent this time next week because the 31 is gone and we know who we are working with.
“If Gordon comes back into the mix it’d be great to have him. He is the most capped Leinster player of all time so to have somebody of that level of experience during this phase would be really, really valuable for us.”
Meanwhile, Paul Marshall said he is hopeful that Andrew Trimble, his Ulster team-mate, will recover from a troublesome foot injury to stake a claim for a World Cup spot. Trimble aggravated his ankle injury in Ireland’s opening World Cup warm-up game against Wales in Cardiff on August 8.
“He’s strong, he looks good, he’s done a bit of running before our friendly with Leinster,” said Marshall. “He’s doing a bit with our fitness coach so from his point of view he’s obviously hoping to be able to play - I don’t know if it’s this week or next week, or both - and to make the World Cup squad.
“And I think a fully fit Andrew Trimble will be on the plane, so it will really just be up to him and what state he’s in.”
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Elsewhere, Pat Lam, the Connacht coach, said he is hopeful that Kieran Marmion, the province’s scrum half, will make the cut to feature in his first World Cup. Schmidt has until August 31 to name his squad.
“There is no doubt that Kieran is good enough,” said Lam. “Everyone has seen what he can do. There are four good halfbacks and the World Cup is about the here and the now. Certainly for Isaac [Boss] and Eoin [Reddan] this is their last one. Kieran is 23.
“Joe has tough choices right through the Irish squad. I believe that Ireland can pick two strong 15s now and possibly a third. Kieran could definitely play at the World Cup but he has competition.”