Ireland engaged in a punishing war against the hard-hitting All-Blacks on Saturday, but they can’t dwell on that loss with another huge task ahead of them this weekend.
Two-time world champions Australia will travel to the Aviva Stadium on Saturday for Ireland’s final game of the Autumn series.
Ireland will be without two of their stars for the Aussie clash – Robbie Henshaw and Johnny Sexton for the tie after both players were taken off the pitch in the first half of Ireland’s 21-9 loss against New Zealand on Saturday. Although there are plenty of positive injury updates including the likes of Keith Earls and Ultan Dillane returning to training.
New Zealand were investigated for 11 incidents during the fiery win over Ireland. After such a physical encounter, one would wonder how the players are deemed fit enough for such a quick turnaround. Well wonder no more because Simon Easterby has cleared it all up.
“I can speak for the players and what they put themselves through at the weekend because the game is incredibly physical these days. I certainly wouldn’t survive very long out there, not in my state.”
“We have to take into account the physicality; some of the figures we received from the GPS, the data does factor in every week how you manage the week. The players put themselves through a hell of a workload and it’s important that we get them right in the first part of the week so we can build up into Thursday and Friday and get them in a really good mental and physical state for Saturday.
The All Blacks are being investigated for 11 incidents from the Ireland game https://t.co/1OABliqG4w
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 21, 2016
When asked how they would be dealing with players who are still felling the effects of the New Zealand game, Easterby explained that most of the players will be fresh for Saturday. However, he is aware that others may be feeling a few niggles, which is an unavoidable reality.
“The majority of players wouldn’t still be feeling it. Player’s tend to carry little niggles throughout the season anyway, that’s always the case. In terms of the soreness from the game, I think it does take a few days these days to recover. And they all work incredibly hard to recover and put themselves in the best position to train early in the week. Some obviously will be feeling it a little more than others.”
