O'Connell allays fears over Lowe and Ringrose fitness

James Lowe and Garry Ringrose both sat out Ireland's open training session with the U20 squad at the Aviva Stadium this afternoon, but coach Paul O'Connell says he's confident both will be available for selection in next weekend's Guinness Six Nations trip to Scotland.

Ringrose continues to be managed for a calf injury that ruled him out of last week's 34-20 win against Italy in Rome, while Lowe and Stuart McCloskey also suffered knocks to their calves in the game, and sat out this afternoon's session.

However, O'Connell said they're expecting to have Lowe available for the visit to Murrayfield on 12 March.

"That's the plan at the moment," the forwards coach said of Lowe.

"I think his calf was sore after the game a little bit so they just wanted to look after him this week, given his history.

"He's had a few injuries so they wanted to look after him. That's generally a pretty tough session, that 20s session, it's a fast session for us so they wanted to look after him."

O'Connell (below) also expressed confidence that Ringrose will be recovered in time for the Round 4 game.

"Garry didn't train today but from what we believe he’s going to be fine. Garry nearly played last week but pulled out on Friday morning with his calf.

"Listen, he’s very important. I suppose everyone talks about doing their role, and doing their role well. Some players are able to do their own role really well and help other people do theirs really well as well, and Garry is one of those guys.

"He’s been in that '13’ position for quite some time. It’s a real specialist position where you have to get used to seeing the pictures. The more you’ve trained there, the more you’ve played there, the more mistakes you’ve made there almost, the better it is, and he’s really quality."

In encouraging news, a number of the previously injured frontliners took a full part in this afternoon's open session at the Aviva Stadium, in which Ireland trained against the U20 squad.

Johnny Sexton, Tadhg Furlong, Jamison Gibson-Park and Robbie Henshaw all featured, and look set to be available for selection next week.

"They're all very good players, they obviously have a lot of IP in terms of how they play the game but they make the group feel good as well with that kind of experience," O'Connell added.

"They speak very well, they generally have a lot of logic to add whenever we have problems to solve. So, it’s been brilliant to go these three games unbeaten without some of those guys, and for them to come back in now hungry, with a bit of a different voice and a different perspective as well."

The forwards coach also addressed the number of soft-tissue injuries that have hit the squad in the last five weeks, which has seen Gibson-Park, Healy, and Ringrose all withdrawn from matchday squad on the eve of games.

"We're not sure of the answer yet. We're trying to figure it out a little bit," he said.

"There isn't a single thread going through a lot of the injuries. Certainly, in terms of how the provinces train and how we've trained historically, there isn't a big change in the load in what we've been doing.

"There isn't a change really in the surfaces either in terms of where we've been training. So there isn't one thread that we've found yet.

"It's been frustrating, but it is what it is, and it's actually good for us. It makes us change, it makes us give people another opportunity. Those players getting an opportunity are the first choice that week, they're not being given a chance because we're trying to blood people or prepare for something in the future.

"They're first choice that week and there's a little bit of stress and a little bit of pressure that comes with that.

"It's been excellent for us because a lot of players have had to step up and deal with that. It's not ideal and we're still trying to figure it out but we're not overly worried about it either."

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