Ireland have confirmed that centre Robbie Henshaw will miss their crunch World Cup opener against Scotland in Yokohama on Sunday.
Henshaw complained of tightness in his hamstring during a training session and there were immediate fears that he could be ruled out of the World Cup.
The 26-year-old underwent a scan over the weekend to determine the severity of the hamstring strain, with the Ireland management later confirming the outcome had been ‘reasonably positive’.
Henshaw has been ruled out of the match against Scotland, but is expected to return to full fitness before Ireland’s next match against hosts Japan on 28 September and will remain with the team.
Meanwhile, news broke on Monday of an apparent injury to Rob Kearney. The fullback is believed to be a major doubt for the opening two matches – against Scotland and Japan – after suffering a calf injury in training.
‘Some of these guys, day by day, week by week, they can improve dramatically as opposed to the average human. So we’ll just take it like that at the moment,’ said Ireland assistant coach Greg Feek.
‘It’s looking positive, so from here on in we’ll just see how it goes in the next few days and then maybe reassess in the not-too-distant future.’
Reasonably positive news on Robbie Henshaw @henshawrob after the scan.
He is unlikely to feature v @Scotlandteam
He will be monitored and managed by the medical staff over the rest of the week and will not be returning home. ?#shouldertoshoulder
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) September 16, 2019
Photo: www.irishrugby.ie
