Any time who are shorn of the services of Iain Henderson, Luke Fitzgerald, Tommy Bowe, Peter O'Mahony, Mike Ross, and Cian Healy would be forgiven for throwing in the towel. It's a credit to Ireland's new-found strength in depth that they are still three points favourites for their opening Six Nations clash with Wales.
But now we need to get the rosary beads out and pray that the latest injury worry is just a precaution. Sean O'Brien is the unfortunate victim, with the Tullow Tank sitting out of training in Carton House this morning. It looks to be just a precaution and the reason given was a tight hamstring, but O'Brien has had some issues with his hamstring in the past, so we are hoping it's just a precaution.
The loss of O'Brien would be massive, in a team already missing the leadership of O'Mahony and O'Connell, and he was one of those whose influence against France in the World Cup made up for the number of injuries we sustained.
His influence would also have been key given the Welsh team selection with two openside flankers Justin Tipuric and Sam Warburton will look to snuff out O'Brien's breakdown work.
We await the medical report from the IRFU in the coming days and pray that O'Brien will be in the team on Friday.
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Picture credit: Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE
