It has emerged since the Ireland squad's open training session today that a scan on Chris Farrrell's knee has revealed some ligament damage and that he is now unlikely to feature for the rest of the Six Nations Championship.
Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt indicated today that Leinster counterpart Leo Cullen may benefit from the addition of Garry Ringrose to his squad this week but with this latest injury blow, Schmidt may now be inclined to wrap Ringrose up in cotton wool ahead of the visit of Scotland on Saturday week.
Breaking news: @Farrell_C93 unlikely to be available for rest of #NatWest6Nations through ligament damage. #TeamOfUs pic.twitter.com/W9yigKVCZM
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) February 27, 2018
Ringrose made his return from ankle surgery last Friday following a seven-week layoff. He played 55 minutes in the 64-7 battering of Southern Kings at the RDS in the Guinness PRO14, making a good contribution with five carries and five tackles and playing a part in a couple of tries.
His comeback looked set to continue with a trip to Wales to face Scarlets on Saturday following Schmidt's comments after training in Dublin today.
"He will certainly be in the [Ireland] squad," revealed Schmidt about Ringrose ahead of the visit of Scotland. "It's likely that he may still play with Leinster, I'll be talking to Leo [Cullen] later today. He may well play with Leinster, just to get another game under his belt away in Scarlets this weekend.
"He will be in the wider [Ireland] squad. He would have been selected in the squad initially anyway and so it's great to have him back in there. I thought he was really sharp at training today. He was good against the Kings. He's a smart player as well as a really good athlete."
Schmidt tried to allay any fears over Farrell who twisted his knee in today's session, chuckling that the players were calling him Lazarus, after he returned back to jogging around the pitch but the bad news was broken officially by the IRFU shortly afterwards.
It is a major blow for the Irish boss who is already without Leinster man Robbie Henshaw while he would have been buoyed by the excellent man-of-the-match performance by Farrell in the win against Wales on Saturday which keeps Ireland on-course for the Grand Slam.
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