‘There Will Be Emotion Involved Around It’ – Fogarty On Trio’s Final Bow At Home

The Guinness Men’s Six Nations penultimate round clash brings together the top two teams in the table, with defending champions Ireland currently three points clear of France following their hard-fought 27-18 win over Wales.

There is a massive amount riding on Saturday’s sold-out game at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 2.15pm), and the expected involvement of O’Mahony, Healy, and Murray for a final time in Dublin adds to the already huge sense of anticipation.

Fogarty, the Ireland Men’s scrum coach, says the desire to give the trio, with 371 Ireland caps between them, a winning send-off on home soil will be discussed as preparations progress through the week.

“They are important guys to us, and to their provinces,” he said. “They’ve been involved for so long, they’ve made Munster and Leinster Rugby better. They’ve made Irish Rugby better, they’ve had a huge impact.

“They’re good guys. We live in each other’s ear when we’re in camp. They’ll be missed, they’ll be missed for sure.

There will be emotion involved around it, I’m sure, because we want to do right by them, but I think what we’ve done well is manage that.

“Sometimes we’ll unpack it a little bit earlier in the week, or we’ll talk about it Wednesday or Thursday when we get to the Shelbourne (Hotel), and we’ll speak about that emotion.

“We’ll speak about (not) going over the edge. The team comes first, and we want to make sure that that mentality or emotion is right at each stage during the week.”

Ireland and France have won the last three Men’s Six Nations titles between them, and Fabien Galthié’s side, who were edged out by England in round 2, recovered to score a record Championship haul of 14 tries against Italy last time out.

It means they are heading to Dublin with their tails up and are very much in title contention. All the previews are talking this up as a likely Championship decider, but Fogarty says the hosts are just concentrating on getting themselves primed for battle.

“We haven’t spoken about that. We have spoken about ourselves, our preparation, our mentality as we prepare so that we can perform to the best of our ability.

“That’s really what’s on our minds right now. It’s a big game, everyone knows it, so it drives the focus,” insisted the former Munster, Connacht, Leinster, and Ireland hooker.

Monday’s squad update mentioned that Ireland captain Caelan Doris is making ‘positive strides’ in his bid to return to action against France. A knee injury saw him miss the Wales game, having played in the team’s previous 42 Tests.

There is growing hope about his availability for selection this week, along with fellow back rower Jack Conan, who was withdrawn during the victory over Wales with a back problem.

A decision on Tadhg Furlong will be made later in the week, with the tighthead prop hoping to make his seasonal debut for Ireland before the end of the Six Nations. Calf and hamstring issues have meant he has played just once for Leinster since mid-October.

There are encouraging signs regarding Furlong though, as he is back involved in scrums, and fellow front rower Rónan Kelleher, who was ruled out of the Wales fixture with a neck injury, also trained today with the squad at the IRFU High Performance Centre.

“Caelan is a world class player and he’s a great leader. So yeah, it would huge (to have him back). Again, he was on the field today, he trained well,” explained Fogarty.

“Hopefully all going well, he trains tomorrow (Wednesday) and gets through what he needs to, and the team will be named on Thursday.

We’ve just done scrums just now so it was good to see Tadhg in a scrum, a fully-contested scrum. Tomorrow is the big day (of training) but we did some entries today and it was good.

“We’ll see how he goes. He has trained with Leinster, set-piece stuff. He’s been building the whole time back. It’s one that has to be right for everyone.

“From my end, it was great to see him back in a scrum, I haven’t seen him in a little bit. He was good. He trained today, he’s full of energy and he took part in the whole session.

“Rónan is training with that neck. He has got a bit of a neck issue from a stinger. He trained today, he’s another one, there’s a few.

“We are at that stage of the competition where it’s difficult. You’re managing some guys the whole time and he is someone that is being managed right now. Tomorrow is another training day and we’ll see.”

He added: “You’ll do the best thing for the team. Tomorrow is our big day (training wise), you get through that and you’re healthy, then we’ll see. It’s a huge week, isn’t it?

“So you want to do right by the entire squad. You want to pick the best team you can and they’ll be monitored throughout the week. Get through tomorrow, etc., and if they’re good to go, they’re good to go.”