Squad Update

With the match reviews taking place in the respective centres yesterday the squad returned to the training ground in CIT today with the focus now on round two of the PRO12 against Treviso this Friday at Stadio Monigo.

Assistant Coach Ian Costello, Simon Zebo and Stephen Archer met with media post-training this afternoon and Costello reiterated that Friday night’s performance against Edinburgh “wasn’t close to good enough”.

And looking ahead to Treviso he added “we need a reaction this Friday with an improved collective performance and improved individual performances.”

He also confirmed that “more internationals are starting to come back in and we will be hoping that we can select from the likes of Paulie, James Cronin, Conor and Felix Jones over the next couple of weeks. Some will come back this week and some the week after, and it’s important for us to get that balance right when reintroducing players.”

On making his competitive debut on Friday night Shane Buckley received stitches above his eye but overall there were no fresh injury concerns to report following the one-point defeat in Thomond Park.

After missing out on selection last week due to bruised ribs Robin Copeland returned to full training today and he will be monitored as the week continues, while Cian Bohane is meeting with the specialist this evening in identifying the full extent of his knee injury sustained against London Irish.

The squad will complete their training on Wednesday in Limerick before travelling to Dublin that evening with an early Thursday morning departure for Italy.