Jared Payne has been ruled out of consideration for the Ireland team ahead of Saturday's test match against Australia at the Aviva stadium.
The Ulster player suffered a foot injury on his debut against South Africa last Saturday week and following a run under the supervision of the Ireland medical team yesterday evening, it was decided that the match this weekend has come a little soon in terms of his rehabilitation process.
As a result he has been released back to Ulster to work his way back to fitness. It means that Ireland coach Joe Schmidt is seeking a midfield partner for Robbie Henshaw, who started against the Springboks.
There are several permutations the most obvious of which is to retain Gordon D’Arcy in his role at inside centre and switch Henshaw to the number 13 jersey, the latter having played at second five eighth when partnering Payne against South Africa.
Stuart Olding enjoyed an impressive try scoring cameo when introduced during the victory over Georgia while his fellow Ulsterman Darren Cave ran at outside centre. D'Arcy's experience, ability and knowledge make him the outstanding candidate.
The Irish management also confirmed that Mike McCarthy has been released back to Leinster to follow the return to play protocols associated with a concussion, which he presented with, following last Sunday's game. There was no one incident but the symptoms were consistent with a concussion.
Rory Best trained fully with the team and is 'raring to go' having missed the first two games in the November test series.
Ireland forwards’ coach Simon Easterby explained: “He (best) trained well today. We have three very good hookers available to us. It’s a position of real strength with Straussy (Richardt Strauss) going really well on the weekend against Georgia and Sean (Cronin) doing particularly well against South Africa and being part of that winning team.
“It’s a good place to be. Rory has proved his fitness today and took part in training.”
Chris Henry’s unfortunate illness means another tough decision for Schmidt, who’ll consult with Easterby before deciding who’ll wear the number seven jersey against Australia.
Easterby admitted that the candidates, Rhys Ruddock, Tommy O’Donnell and also Dominic Ryan had all produced high calibre performances over the last two matches. “He (Rhys Ruddock) was good (against South Africa). He knew he was covering a couple of positions because he was on the bench and Chris was due to start.
“Rhys is a big man; he’s physical and has a great engine on him. He’s fit for any position in that backrow but the seven one is something that he is still learning but he’s doing very well at it and training really well.
“We have Tommy (O’Donnell) and Dominic Ryan who both went well at the weekend at seven and six (respectively) against Georgia, that we have a bit of depth there with other guys to come back into the squad from injury.”
