Ireland are hopeful that Tadhg Furlong will be fit to take some part in this year's Guinness Six Nations, following a recurrence of his calf injury.
The Leinster tighthead left Ireland's warm-weather training camp in Portugal on Sunday, having been ruled out of this Saturday’s opening game against England in Dublin.
Furlong has been troubled by a series of soft-tissue injuries in recent seasons, and missed all four of Ireland’s Autumn Nations Series games in November with hamstring and calf injuries.
In total, the 32-year-old missed close to three months with those issues before returning for Leinster’s Investec Champions Cup win against La Rochelle just over two weeks ago, and he has played just three times this season.
However, IRFU performance director David Humphreys says they are hopeful this latest setback won’t rule him out for the entire championship.
"It's certainly not as significant as it was then [in November], and we would hope to see him back playing in the Six Nations," Humphreys said from Ireland’s Algarve training camp.
In Furlong’s absence, Finlay Bealham looks set to win his 49th cap in the starting team this weekend against England, while Leinster’s Thomas Clarkson and Connacht’s uncapped Jack Aungier looking to fill a spot on the bench.
Furlong recently signed a two-year contract extension with the IRFU, keeping him at Leinster until the summer of 2027.
And Humphreys says he remains as important as ever to their plans.
"You know how central Tadhg has been to Ireland's success over the last 10 years. Yes, there's no doubt that as any player gets older there's an increased risk of injury.
"But, he worked incredibly hard with the medical team over the course of the last few weeks to get back for the La Rochelle game.
"He's back in Dublin now, there will be some investigations and when there's something further, Simon [Easterby] will be able to update you on the nature of the injury," he added.
Humphreys (below) has also backed Easterby to make a seamless step-up to the role of head coach while Andy Farrell is away with the British and Irish Lions until the end of the summer.
The Ireland defence coach will fill in as interim head coach for the next seven months across the Six Nations and summer tour.
And while Humphreys believes Farrell is still the best coach in world rugby, he believes the structures are in place that Ireland won’t lose ground without him.
He said: "Andy Farrell will be missed for any coaching team. In my opinion he's the best rugby coach in the world and that's why he's become such an important part of what we do.
"Having been on the Emerging Ireland tour and seen how Simon and Paulie [O’Connell], John Fogarty and Andrew Goodman work together, I have absolutely no doubt it will be an easy transition in the next few months.
"Even here this week and back in Dublin, yes Andy isn't here, but nothing else has changed.
"Simon has been a big part of the success over the last few years, he has head coach experience and I have no doubt he'll thrive under the pressure that will come with head coach over the next few weeks."
Ireland won three out of their four games in the Autumn Nations Series in November, but they did struggle to reach their usual high standards, with a number of error-strewn performances, particularly in the opening two games of the month against New Zealand and Argentina.
But the former Ireland and Ulster out-half is confident that those issues will not roll over into 2025.
"When the review was taken off the November series, when you look before that, coming into that competition, the provinces weren't playing particular well, some of our key players were probably struggling a bit with their form," he added.
"Compare that with the last month where I think you've seen a lot of our top players playing really well in Europe. That's why we're going into the Six Nations in a really good spot.
"The players are playing with a lot more confidence that comes from having played well."
Read Neil Treacy's full interview with IRFU performance director David Humphreys on Tuesday morning.
