The World Cup warm-up games have been a mixed bag so far.
There have been awful, one-dimensional stalemates as well as some exciting and closely contested affairs.
Warm-up games are always going to be funny because of the different combinations playing the game, but you also have to wonder where some of the players heads are at when they feel that their place might be more secure and the risk is high coming into the tournament.
Injuries are part of every contact sport, however, the closer you get to tournaments, this brings some nervous approaches from both players and coaches.
There were some serious injuries following the matches last weekend.
Romain Ntamack is the latest victim of a rather innocuous-looking ACL injury. A Finn Russell hand-off caused Ntamack (below) to get his feet stuck for a moment, but what transpired afterwards seemed like nothing more than Ntamack falling over.
The minute he held his knee there would have been huge concern for the health of his knee ligaments. The injury was confirmed yesterday which is a huge blow to France's World Cup preparations.
Cyril Baille is also missing six weeks of action, which will leak into the tournament group stages following an injured calf, picked up in a wheeling scrum.
Props are another problematic position to lose from your squad because every team will play four props in each game, two on either side of the scrum.
Losing one means that you’ll be down to your third choice for twenty minutes of most games because the second choice will start and props rarely play for 80 minutes.
Les Bleus will be hoping for good news on that front.
Jack van Poortvliet is another whose World Cup was ended during England’s stuttering performance against Wales.
The scrum-half (above) rolled his ankle while indirectly involved in a contact which caused him serious and immediate pain.
It’s less surprising that his injury had finished his World Cup hopes. He’s another huge loss for England, who are currently struggling for form during their pre-World Cup games.
Wales have some concern at hooker; Dewi Lake had to leave the field and he looked psychologically stressed as he was doing so.
Maybe it was because it disrupted a fantastic moment for him, captaining his country. Or maybe it’s because sometimes players understand that even small knocks can rule them out of contention for the start of the World Cup from here on.
Wales are running up an injury list with Ken Owens already out of the tournament and smaller concerns over Taine Plumtree and Taine Basham, following Owen Farrell’s reckless high tackle on the energized back-row forward.
Tomasso Memoncello, the exciting Italian centre, had already been ruled out with a shoulder injury suffered against Ireland. There are many more, unfortunately.
It’s an awful time for anyone to be ruled out because every week counts towards returning for any part of the tournament.
Between injuries and upcoming bans, the competition is already losing some high-quality players when rugby needs to put its best foot forward to promote the game.
While I sit and watch these games from a distance, I am always concerned with the injuries that might rule players out of a huge moment in their career.
Having gone through my own injury worries in the past, I might be somewhat more sensitive to seeing that heartache.
Another player comes in and it’s like a conveyor belt of gladiators thrown into the arena.
Everyone is disposable and sport is cruel. But, for that person, it may massively affect their career and remembering the human side of the game is important.
As coaches, it can also be a nervous time. There are some players that are a lot less disposable than others.
Antoine Dupont, Johnny Sexton (above), Finn Russell, anyone that is the heartbeat of their national team, really.
Ntamack is one of those that is near impossible to replace, although France have an embarrassment of riches in most positions.
Irish supporters might suddenly be wondering if Sexton’s ban is a blessing at this stage of some chaotic injury reports before the tournament has even begun.
While coaches select their sides in each warm-up game, there would be a macro plan to give certain players and combinations enough game time to be fully prepared for the tournament, without overly stressing anyone that is invaluable in the squad.
Coaches know that injuries are part of the game and that there’s nothing you can do about them.
Unless you are overloading a player, you can’t accept any fault for injuries that occur but they would still play on your mind.
The preparations must be done and game time is essential for all, it’s just a funny time.
Players aren’t walking around fearing the worst about injuries, it’s very much background noise at best. There are others that know they must play their best games possible to make it to the tournament, so holding back can’t be an option.
Injuries are inevitable in this game and there were always going to be some fallen soldiers in the build-up to the tournament. There are still a couple of warm-up games to go so the list will more than likely grow.
There will be strength and conditioning coaches and medical departments scratching their heads wondering how much more they could have done to plan the players loading and involvements across the matches.
In 2015 Ireland were struck with many injuries in the group stages, losing Peter O’Mahony (above), Paul O’Connell, Sexton and a citing for Sean O’Brien.
It was followed by Tommy Bowe’s withdrawal in the quarter-final and Ireland were blown away by Argentina.
South Africa find themselves in a similar position before the tournament has even begun with the loss of Lukhanyo Am, Handre Pollard and Lood de Jager.
A squad can look a lot less threatening once you take out a couple of leaders and in this case, World Cup winners.
Of course, the planning and preparation is important, but there’ll be some luck needed to go unscathed throughout the tournament.
We’re hoping that there won’t be too many more casualties before the tournament itself begins.
For some players and coaches, it’ll be a long few weeks.
Watch live coverage of Ireland's Rugby World Cup warm-up games v England (19 August) and Samoa (26 August) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio, or follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News app.
