Rugby:A question mark continues to hang over Tomas O'Leary's availability for Sunday's Six Nations meeting with France as he recovers from a back injury sustained last weekend. The Munster scrumhalf, who has played only a limited part in training all week, sat out this morning's entire session.
O’Leary suffered a back spasm during Ireland’s fraught 13-11 win over Italy in Rome and, while it is a problem he has experienced in the past and came through, his chances of featuring at the Aviva Stadium are thought to be no more than 50-50.
The Irish medical team will continue to monitor his fitness before any final decision is taken on his involvement with Eoin Reddan on standby. Third choice scrumhalf Peter Stringer has already been drafted into the squad to provide cover if needed.
“Tomas has had a stiff back which has not sufficiently improved over the course of the week, so we felt it was prudent to call Peter up to remain with the squad,” Ireland team manager Paul McNaughton said last night.
“Tomas is not ruled out of the game, but we will wait and see how he progresses over the next 48 hours before making any decisions on changes to the matchday 22.”
Given O’Leary’s indifferent display in Rome, where his sluggish service came in from some criticism, many felt the 27-year-old was fortunate to keep Reddan out of the starting line-up when the team was announced on Tuesday.
Reddan has been a key figure in Leinster’s march to the Heineken Cup quarter-finals over the last couple of months but has struggled to get a regular run of games at international level under Kidney, not least when O’Leary has been fit and available.
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