Late Concerns For Joe Schmidt As Irish Duo Sit Out Captain’s Run

Irish duo Jared Payne and Sean O’Brien both sat out Ireland’s captain’s run at the Aviva Stadium today.

As it stands neither have been ruled out of tomorrow’s clash with Australia but remain a major concern as Joe Schmidt prepares his side for the crucial clash with Michael Cheika’s Wallabies.

Andy Farrell says both players are carrying lower limb tweaks but insists that the Ireland coaching team expects that an extra day of rest will allow them to “regenerate” before tomorrow’s game at the Aviva.

“No, as yet, no,” said Farrell this afternoon when asked if there were any late changes to the Ireland team.

“We’ve a couple of guys that have a couple of niggles. The captain’s run is normally just a stretch-your-legs type session, so we made a couple of decisions this morning to rest Jared and Sean O’Brien.

“We’ll give them an extra 24 hours and just assess how they are in the morning.”

Farrell was keen to stress that neither player is a major worry for tomorrow’s clash.

“Just tweaks, just tweaks,” said Farrell of the injury types.

“Just lower limb tweaks. That’s what normally happens during a week, you pick things up along the way and are still recovering from the game, etc.

“The main session was yesterday and we decided just to give a couple of players a rest today and asses them throughout the day.

“We’ll have a discussion in the morning to give them that extra little bit of time to regenerate themselves.”

Munster’s Peter O’Mahony and Rory Scannell have remained with the Ireland squad as potential injury cover and were present at today’s captain’s run.