Blow For Ireland As Star Ruled Out For Remainder Of Six Nations

Josh van der Flier’s Six Nations is over.

The Leinster back-row was on the bench for Ireland’s opening two games, but will now play no further part in the remainder of the tournament.

The rising young star injured his shoulder while playing for Leinster this past weekend, going off early in the first-half.

It’s now been revealed that he picked up a grade-three AC shoulder joint injury in the win over Edinburgh and faces up to eight weeks out.

“Josh is a grade-three AC joint. Those have been turned around in three weeks but we obviously need to get the advice of experts in the field as to how stable the joint is,” said Stuart Lancaster.

“Josh is the ultimate professional. It could be anything up to six or seven or eight [weeks]. It’ll depend. It’s obviously an important part of your body, the shoulder, for playing rugby, so we need to make sure it’s stable and he’s not going to get a re-injury.

“It’s a disappointing one for him, but obviously an opportunity for Dan Leavy – I think he was excellent when he came on and probably deserves his call-up to the squad.

His spot on the Ireland replacements bench is set to be taken by the returning Peter O’Mahony.