Ireland’s Mike McCarthy has been ruled out of the rest of the season after suffering concussion in the Six Nations defeat by France and Sean O’Brien and Dave Kearney will also miss the next match against England.
Joe Schmidt said McCarthy had been advised to take a break with a view to the Leinster lock returning next season. “Mike McCarthy has seen a specialist now and he’s going to effectively re-condition himself, freshen himself up to kick-start next season now,” the Ireland coach said.
The back-row O’Brien and the wing Kearney are also set to miss the rest of the Six Nations after damaging a hamstring and shoulder respectively.
Jonathan Sexton took part in Friday’s training for the England game at Twickenham on 27 February next Saturday after suffering what Schmidt called a whiplash injury against France, a game when he was subject to heavy tackling and was replaced near the end of the 10-9 defeat.
The fly-half rolled his ankle during the training session but Schmidt said he would be able to train on Monday.
