Ireland coach Simon Easterby has confidence in the squad to cover for the absence of Tadhg Beirne, who has been ruled out of the Six Nations.
The second-row limped off early in the second half of the Irishmen’s 32-19 victory over France in Dublin last Saturday.
It was revealed that Beirne suffered an ankle injury and he has since undergone surgery to correct the issue.
He has been ruled out for up to three months and will be absent for the final few rounds of the Six Nations.
Increasing injury list
Having sustained a number of injury blows to key players prior to the competition, including prop Tadhg Furlong and centre Robbie Henshaw, it will test Ireland’s depth further, but Easterby insists that they have the quality to cope.
“Tadhg has been phenomenal, hasn’t he, over the last couple of seasons,” he said.
“But like we’ve already had to do over the course of this championship, we’ve had to adapt and that’s testament to the squad and the work the players have put in that even those guys who might not expect to be involved step in and the standard and performance doesn’t drop.
“It’s really unfortunate that we’ve lost Tadhg but we’re very fortunate with the stocks that we have available to us in his position.
“Other players have stepped in and the performance hasn’t dipped so I guess that’s part and parcel of the game.
“The mentality was a couple of years ago to make sure we have more than just 30, 31, 32, 33 players available, we certainly have drilled down into players underneath those and we feel we’re in a much better place to lose someone like Tadhg and not lose performance in players that come in.”
Ulster’s Iain Henderson is the likely replacement for Beirne, where he will partner James Ryan in the second-row.
Ireland also saw Johnny Sexton go off injured against France but Easterby expects him to be available for their Test against Italy.
Better news on Tadhg Furlong
There was positive news over Rob Herring and Dan Sheehan, while Furlong is making progress on his calf issue and could still feature in the Six Nations.
“He’s in a really good place but he knows his own body and understands how that works,” Easterby said of the tighthead.
“We’re very hopeful, and so is he, that he will be involved at some point during this Six Nations.
“But it’s the sort of injury, like a lot of soft-tissue injuries, that you want to make sure you don’t get wrong.
“You want to make sure you get it right and they feel like they’ve got enough in the bank in terms of exposure to the high intensity of the game.”
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