John Fogarty Provides Ireland Squad Update Ahead Of Fiji

Ireland Scrum Coach John Fogarty had mixed news on the squad front today as he told the media that prop Tadhg Furlong is ‘full of energy’, while Ryan Baird is ruled out following his HIA last Friday night.

Furlong missed the first two matches of the Autumn Nations Series due to a hamstring issue, but trained fully  this afternoon at the High Performance Centre, and Fogarty says he is on track to be available.

“Full of energy, He got through the session today and he will be assessed as we go along.

“I’d say bullish, he’s eager to get back and excited to be in and around the team again. It’s lonely when you’re outside of that. He’s excited to be in and around the team, and we are excited as well.

“They won’t mess about with the players. He’s back on time. He’s ready to go. If he was back last week and ready to go, he would have been up for selection and then the coaches will decide.

“He is back in training and he has got through that session today.”

Fogarty also spoke about the emergence of Tom Clarkson, who made his debut against Argentina on Friday night, “I was delighted. We went on an Emerging Ireland tour a couple of years ago, he is a great character. He does a few things really well at scrum time.

“He came in as a guy who we were looking at for the future and circumstances allowed him to go onto the field last [week].

“It was amazing, Cian getting 133 and Tom getting one. It was an incredibly exciting week to be a scrum coach and watch both those things happen. Tom did a good job. He will certainly take his learnings. It’s always exciting when you get another Irish tighthead onto the field.

“Hopefully he will take everything he has learned and push on. I’ve said it before, that’s what we need. We want every front-rower to step up. And Tom has stepped up in this camp and I’m delighted he got capped,” he added.

Looking ahead to the game on Saturday againsgt Fiji, Fogarty echoed Andy Farrell’s thoughts about the team saying, “I think it’s important that we are doing right by everyone in our side, continuing to look for a performance.

“Fiji have improved. We played them two years ago and they’ve certainly improved. You see that through the Wales game, they didn’t quite have the full side out in that Scotland match, but they’re a dangerous team.

“So, it’s important that we are focusing on developing a good performance. Andy [Farrell] and ourselves will select accordingly.”