A reprieve for Cian Healy, Owen Farrell’s fitness woes and what have Iran and nuclear weapons got to do with the Six Nations?
Healy free to play France next week
Irish prop Cian Healy successfully appealed his ban for stamping on England’s Dan Cole today, meaning he is free to face France at Aviva Stadium on March 9.
After initially being hit with a three-week ban, spaced out over four weeks, the ban has now been reduced to two, over three weeks, meaning the Leinster man can pack down in the front row on Saturday week.
As it stands, the game against France has become a bit of a Wooden Spoon battle and defeat for Ireland next week would lead to even more speculation about Declan Kidney’s future.
The coach will be glad to have one of his more impactful players back and perhaps the Six Nations committee will be clearer in future bans, as they admit that the one they applied originally was not fully above board.
“The player had argued, among other things, that by extending the three week suspension over four weekends (to take account of the first ‘break weekend’ in the 6 Nations Championship) was not permissible under the relevant regulations.
“The independent Six Nations disciplinary appeal committee… upheld the appeal.”
The curse of the Lions No 10 strikes England
While Jonny Sexton, hopefully, is on the mend, it looks like his chief rival for that coveted Lions No 10 shirt could have suffered a setback himself.
England’s Owen Farrell, whose kicking has been superb all tournament, is a doubt now for the Championship leader’s game with Italy next week.
Farrell is reported to have sustained an injury to his quad muscle against France and will not train at all this week. To be honest, England, at home, probably won’t need the Farrell to beat Italy but Warren Gatland will be hoping that both his options get back to full fitness soon.
WTF rugby headline of the day
Thanks to @FrankSunTimes for spotting this rather alarming headline in the Wall Street Journal.
Thankfully, it’s just the way they do their headlines but it is a little disarming (no pun intended) if you have a rugby, rather than foreign affairs, mindset.
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