Six Nations: McCarthy, Kearney and O’Brien out of England clash

As Joe Schmidt pored over his injury list with less than two weeks before facing England at Twickenham in Ireland's third match of the Six Nations Championship, he faced an escalation in the number of casualties as lock Mike McCarthy, flanker Seán O'Brien and wing Dave Kearney will all miss out.

McCarthy, who was carried off on a stretcher, suffered concussion against France and is following return to play protocols. He will also see a specialist about his injury, while O’Brien has a grade two hamstring tear and will miss the game against England.

Kearney suffered an AC shoulder injury after a high tackle from the French hooker and captain Guilhem Guirado and will also miss the match at Twickenham.

Not seriously injured

It was better news for

Johnny Sexton

, who looked pretty beaten up after the game but is not seriously injured. Schmidt took the opportunity to criticise the amateur pundits who have said the outhalf’s spate of injuries should force him to consider retirement.

Speaking to RTÉ Sport Schmidt said Sexton does not have a head injury.

“That’s not a head injury at all,” said the Irish coach. “It’s always frustrating when external pundits start making medical diagnosis from something that they see or think happens. We’ve had Johnny totally checked out and he is very comfortable today.”

The Irish outhalf is recovering as is centre Jared Payne, who has a grade one hamstring injury and will be monitored this week.

“Yeah, 48 hours after we’ve had a bit of an assessment,” said Schmidt. “Mike McCarthy suffered a concussion. He will see a specialist just because of the nature of the impact.

“Unfortunately Seán O’Brien has a Grade two tear and will be unavailable. We’ll see how he is beyond that. Dave Kearney has a shoulder and neck [injury] and he’s also likely to miss the England game.”

Payne injured his hamstring in the first half of the match but decided to play on as Fergus Mc Fadden had already come into the game as a replacement for the injured Kearney.

“Jared said that he would go on as long as he could,” said Schmidt. “I think defensively he really shut down some opportunities they had. He won’t train this week and we will monitor him in the lead-up to the England game.”

There was other good news for Schmidt in that loosehead prop Cian Healy and tighthead Mike Ross came through in Leinster's game against Zebre on Friday night and are both expected to have another run out when Leinster face Cardiff in the Pro 12.

The players will train with Ireland this week but return to their province along with others who were not used against France. Ireland will also take up camp in Mullingar RFC this week and will have a session with the Under- 20s before a weekend off.

At Leinster coach Leo Cullen refused to be drawn into a discussion on Ireland and Connacht centre, Robbie Henshaw, who has reportedly agreed to join Leinster next season. Connacht released a statement saying the player was leaving without stating where he was going to go. The 22-year-old is on an IRFU central contract and can choose the province with which he wants to play.

“Yeah that’s the player’s choice,” confirmed Cullen, who added that Leinster may detail their signed players this week.

“We’ll try and get something released at some stage later this week about some of the guys that have re-signed,” he added.

“He (Henshaw) is one of the bright lights at the moment with Ireland over the last couple of years. Yeah whatever team gets him will be better off, you would think.”

Luke Fitzgerald will take another four to six weeks to recover from a knee injury he sustained when his foot became caught in the grass during an open training session in Aviva Stadium prior to the beginning of the Six Nations.

“Luke is probably another four to six weeks, I’d imagine,” said Cullen. “The fact that he’s had a couple of issues with that knee means it will be a bit slower. He’s done his medial. It’s probably six to eight [week] injury, probably more on the eight week side of things.”