Thirty-one-year-old Flannery made his comeback from an Achilles injury when playing 40 minutes for Shannon in their AIL Division 1A clash with UL-Bohemian at Thomond Park on Saturday.
However, as a result of his bruised shoulder injury Flannery is not included in the Ireland A squad to face the England Saxons in Bath on Sunday.
There was good news for Flannery’s Munster colleague Marcus Horan who is included in the A squad to face the Saxons this weekend. Horan, who played the final 10 minutes of Munster’s Heineken Cup game with Northampton on Friday night, played the entire 80 minutes for Shannon in that AIL clash with UL-Bohemian the following day.
Horan is joined in the 22-strong Ireland A squad by Munster colleagues, Tony Buckley, Mick O’Driscoll, Niall Ronan, Ian Dowling, Denis Hurley and Peter Stringer.
Limerick-born centre Keith Matthews, currently playing with Connacht, is also named in the squad.
Speaking at the Irish training camp in Limerick this week, manager Paul McNaughton said: “Marcus Horan played 10 minutes with Munster on Friday night and has been involved with his club side in their two most recent AIL games.
“He is definitely going across to England this weekend to get some game time against the Saxons.
“Jerry Flannery got 40 minutes of game time on Saturday. He has a bit of a bruised shoulder and we will not risk him on Sunday against the Saxons. Jerry should be eligible for selection for the Italy match.”
A number of players sat out the Irish squad training session in Limerick this Tuesday. Donncha O’Callaghan (knee), Sean Cronin (sprained ankle) and Stephen Ferris (shin) did not train, but none of the players have been ruled out of contention for the first weekend the RBS Six Nations Championship. Keith earls has not yet joined the Ireland training camp due to illness.
The team and replacements for the Ireland ‘A’ team’s clash with the England Saxons at the Recreation Ground, Bath at 2pm on Sunday is named this Thursday.
Prior to Saturday’s AIL match at Thomond Park when her lined out for Shannon, hooker Flannery had not seen competitive action since helping Ireland secure a precious Test win over World Champions South Africa in November.
Afterwards Flannery, who was making his first appearance for the AIL holders since a 2007 appearance against UCD when he was coming back from a shoulder reconstruction, said: “This is my first time to get any game time since the South Africa match and it was good to get through 40 minutes. For the team to get a win was the main thing.
“One half was all they wanting me to play. This is my first week back with rugby. They wanted to limit my game time to 40 to see how the injury reacts. But I came through it ok.
“It was good to come back and play for the club. You see some things haven’t changed with the club. Andrew Thompson is still around and a lot of the other guys are too.
“Marcus was playing and Gaillimh (Mick Galwey) was also in the dressing room after the match. There was a real good family feel about the club, especially after the hard week it has had.
While he has been able to do running exercises while injured, 34-time capped Flannery was relieved to be able to play a competitive game at the end of the week.
“It is the same no matter what level you play rugby, you want to get a game at the end of the week,” Flannery explained.
“For me, it was just a normal week. For seven weeks previously, I was just running all the time and icing the leg and see how it reacts. It was like a seven-day week. Instead of taking the weekend off and playing a game you were giving the injury as much time to recover as you can. It is good to be able to train towards playing.”
Ireland A Squad v England Saxons, Recreation Groud, Sunday January 31, 2pm:
Rory Best (Ulster), Isaac Boss (Ulster), Tony Buckley (Munster), Darren Cave (Ulster), Ryan Caldwell (Ulster), Ian Dowling (Munster), John Fogarty (Leinster), Marcus Horan (Munster), Ian Humphreys (Ulster), Denis Hurley (Munster), Shane Jennings (Leinster), Keith Matthews (Connacht), John Muldoon (Connacht), Fergus McFadden (Leinster), Johne Murphy (Leicester), Mick O’Driscoll (Munster) , Sean O’Brien (Leinster), Niall Ronan (Munster), Mike Ross (Leinster), Peter Stringer (Munster), Devin Toner (Leinster), Paddy Wallace (Ulster).
Colm Kinsella
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment