Massive boost for Ireland as Joe Schmidt provides fitness update

This is the news Irish rugby fans will want to hear, especially after the injuries that befell Sean O'Brien and Robbie Henshaw.

Ireland are definitely without Sean O'Brien [broken arm] for the rest of the Guinness Series while there were be some fretting over Robbie Henshaw after he pulled up with a tight hamstring minutes before kick-off against Argentina. With the All Blacks in town next weekend, Joe Schmidt also had to look on from the stands as Peter O'Mahony [shoulder], Kieran Marmion and Bundee Aki [both tweaked ankles] were looked at my medics. Following Ireland's 28-17 victory over Los Pumas, Schmidt said he was hopeful about Henshaw. On Marmion and Aki, he commented:

"Kieran just rolled his ankle a little bit. If you watch the game on, he does play on, so we'd be very hopeful that he'll be fine. He may have to elevate his ankle for the next 24 to 48 hours and get a bit of ice on it. But we'd be relatively confident he'd be okay." Schmidt added, "Again, if you follow on, I think he beat four tackles in his next carry. He would be another stubborn man, in the best sense of the word. He's very resilient. He was actually walking problem-free - not limping at all - in the changing room just then. Again, you'd be pretty confident that he'd be okay."

The Ireland head coach had even better news on Garry Ringrose and Rob Kearney. "Yep, they are going really well," said Joe Schmidt.

"Our prediction is they will train fully on Monday. So, with that prediction, it puts them into the mix [for New Zealand] for sure. "In the context of some guys that are a little bit doubtful, that is really important to us."

There is also the outside chance that Conor Murray could come back into consideration. The Munster scrum-half is likely to travel to Carton House to train with the senior squad but Schmidt said any decision on whether he faces the All Blacks would primarily rest on the player himself.