All 36 players in the Ireland squad trained on the main pitch at the SeatGeek Stadium in the southwest metropolitan area of Chicago, meaning Andy Farrell has a full-strength squad to choose from save for Mack Hansen, who is the only absentee from his original 34-man squad.
It now seems likely that Caelan Doris will be fit to play a part in the matchday squad against New Zealand at Soldier Field next Saturday after recovering from the shoulder surgery he underwent after Leinster’s Champions Cup semi-final loss to Northampton on May 3rd.
“Yes, everyone’s trained and everyone’s good to go,” confirmed forwards coach Paul O’Connell, who said of Doris: “He’s been through a very good return to play period now and he’s had a good few weeks. There’s been very little minding of him, or anything like that, or there hasn’t been any.
“There’s one train of thought that says you start a guy like that because he could come on after a minute anyway, and there’s another train of thought that says you bring him off the bench. He’s fine, he’s trained really well, he feels really good, he’s shown no ill-effects whatsoever.”
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Ireland will have to hit the ground running compared to a more match-fit All Blacks side who finished second in the Rugby Championship on points difference to South Africa.
“It’s definitely a challenge and that’s why we’re over a little bit early. It allowed us to get over the jet lag or get over most of the jet lag and have two very good, fast training sessions with a good bit of contact in them and get lads up to speed.
“It’s certainly a challenge but I suppose the sessions we’ve put in are designed to help the guys on that journey.”
Farrell will unveil his selection on Thursday at 9am local time (2pm Irish) and while Doris hasn’t played in the intervening six months, it seems likely that he will lead the side against the All Blacks. Jack Conan, who could start at number eight or be picked alongside Doris, hasn’t played since the third Test in the Lions series in Australia three months ago.
Jack Crowley seems favourite to start at outhalf again – as he did in the Six Nations finale in Rome – after his confident display in guiding Munster to their 31-14 win over Leinster in Croke Park a fortnight ago.
Tommy O’Brien, who started both summer Tests against Georgia and Portugal when scoring three tries, appears set to start on the right wing in place of Hansen. In the absence of Hugo Keenan, Jamie Osborne is favoured to start ahead of Jacob Stockdale at fullback.
Tadhg Furlong will probably be picked to start, having been on the bench in Rome, while it could be that the uncapped Paddy McCarthy will feature in the matchday squad among the replacements.
