The Irish rugby team don’t have much left to play for in the Six Nations, but plenty of them had another reason to try and impress at training today.
Lions coach Warren Gatland dropped in on training at Carton House this morning to check on preparations ahead of the Italy game at the weekend and to see how the Irish players on his radar for the tour Down Under in the summer were coming along.
Once he sidestepped the large contingent of walking wounded in the camp at the moment, Gatland would have been pleased to see potential Lions captain Brian O’Driscoll togging out despite a vicious cocktail of dead leg, lacerated ear and concussion injuries suffered in the draw with France at the weekend.
Judging by the picture below, it seems like Alan Quinlan was trying to convince him to select as many Irish players as his predecessor Ian McGeehan did in 2009 (14), but even if that is highly unlikely this time, the likes of Cian Healy, Rory Best, Sean O’Brien and dark horse Conor Murray would have been eager to impress and make sure that Gatland doesn’t forget about them when he sits down to pick the squad in the summer.
Pics via Inpho/Billy Stickland
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