Sean Cronin injured: the hamstring injury suffered by the Leinster hooker against Zebre is worse than initially feared, meaning that Cronin is set to miss the entirety of Ireland's Six Nations campaign.
Leinster coach Stuart Lancaster told press at Leinster's training HQ in UCD that Cronin would miss the tournament due to the "significant" damage caused by the injury, sustained by Cronin during Leinster's facile Pro12 victory over Zebre ten days ago. Cronin is expected to be unavailable for ten weeks.
In quotes carried by the42.ie , Lancaster confirmed the extent of Cronin's injury.
It’s a real shame for him as he’s actually playing great rugby but it’s a good opportunity for us to get him right and make sure we don’t get a recurrence of this because it must be hugely frustrating for him.
Cronin would probably have been Joe Schmidt's first choice as a replacement for Ireland captain Rory Best and the loss of his power and speed in open play will be particularly disappointing for Schmidt. The favourite to take Cronin's place may well be Niall Scannell of Munster, who put in a particularly strong performance during his team's fabulous 14-12 victory over Glasgow at the weekend.
