Ireland will miss the experience and threat of Connacht winger Mack Hansen, who will not travel to the USA this week for Ireland’s match against the All Blacks in Soldier Field on Saturday week.
Hansen, who picked up a foot injury playing with Connacht last Friday night against South African side Bulls, won’t be on the plane, although his provincial teammate Bundee Aki and Leinster centre Robbie Henshaw will travel to Chicago despite carrying knocks of their own.
The upside of Hansen’s absence is other players such as Munster centre Tom Farrell and Jimmy O’Brien may get an opportunity having been called into the travelling party.
“Yeah, he’ll (Hansen) be very disappointed,” said assistant coach John Fogarty on Monday.
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“It’s a huge November and a huge opportunity to play against the best in the world, so any player that’s not going to make it is going to be disappointed and so are we. We think he’s a world class player.
“It’s exciting, the guys coming in, Tom Farrell and Jimmy (O’Brien). I’m taking some credit for Tom, I coached him at under-20s with Leinster. I told him downstairs (in the High Performance Centre) I was trying to get him in for a long time now, so I’m glad he’s here. It’s brilliant for him, he’s buzzing as well, so hugely excited for him.”
Henshaw has a groin injury and came off in Leinster’s defeat to Munster on Saturday in Croke Park, while Irish centre Aki suffered a hip injury.
“It isn’t (ideal) but it’s kind of the nature of things isn’t it,” said Fogarty. “I know New Zealand have lost a couple of players in the second row and it’s the nature of the game, I guess. Having guys to step in is always unbelievably important.
“We get to widen the squad a fraction and the opportunity is there for those players now to really show what they’re worth in camp, so it will be exciting to see them.”
Fogarty added that there was no residue of animosity in the Irish camp after several skirmishes during the game in Croke Park, which Munster won 31-14.
During a tense last quarter, action between the players continued after the whistle as the match bubbled nicely, although no red cards were necessary. Gavin Coombes was shown a yellow card towards the end for an illegal tackle, as was Leinster’s Ciaran Frawley for denying a try.
“No, that’s the way it should be,” said Fogarty. “I’ve been involved in a few of those games and they’re different and that’s how it should be.
“They’re competitive, proud players that want to show the best of themselves for the provinces and it gives us a point of difference. With any Irish team, we want players to be fighting hard for their positions, we want it to be unbelievably competitive, we want to see an edge so there’s no issue.
“The guys know each other very, very well and they should be expecting that competitive nature and edge in games, and Munster delivered it and congratulations to them, it was a cracking game.”
