Ireland are set to kick off the Six Nations next week without two of their most influential and experienced backline players. Bundee Aki and Hugo Keenan, key members of last year’s British & Irish Lions tour to Australia, should have been involved against France next week but are now facing spells on the sidelines for contrasting reasons.
Aki has not travelled to Ireland’s training camp in Portugal following a “misconduct complaint” relating to an alleged post-match incident with match officials at the weekend after Connacht’s URC game against Leinster.
The veteran centre will now face an independent hearing on Wednesday with the Irish Rugby Football Union confirming he is staying at home for disciplinary reasons. “The IRFU does not tolerate any form of disrespect shown towards match officials and does not condone actions that fall below the standards expected of players representing Irish rugby,” read a statement.
The 35-year-old Aki, who has won 68 caps for Ireland, was an early temporary replacement in last weekend’s game and was aggrieved after he was struck in the face by Charlie Tector’s head in the first-half. Any suspension would inevitably affect his tournament participation, with Ireland due to face the defending champions France in Paris next Thursday. The uncapped Ulster centre Jude Postlethwaite has been added to the squad in Aki’s place.
In a second significant blow, Keenan is now a major injury doubt amid reports he has suffered a broken thumb in training. The full-back, the try-scoring hero of the Lions’ series-clinching win over the Wallabies in Melbourne, had been expected to start against France despite not having played since the Lions tour after undergoing hip surgery.
With Ireland already missing several injured props and with doubts still surrounding the fitness of Tadhg Furlong, it makes life significantly trickier for the head coach, Andy Farrell, as he contemplates his starting XV for Paris. Jacob Stockdale could now slot in at full-back with Stuart McCloskey at inside centre.
France, meanwhile, are also having to come to terms with the loss of their giant prop Uini Atonio, who has been advised to retire from rugby with immediate effect after suffering a heart attack. The 35-year-old Atonio, a lynchpin of France’s scrum for many years, remains under surveillance in intensive care. His condition is described as stable but his club La Rochelle have indicated that his recovery will require a lengthy period of convalescence.
To say the 145-kg Atonio will leave a massive hole in the French pack is an understatement and, when combined with the current surge of injuries to top-level props in Ireland and England, raises the question of whether the increasing pace and physical intensity of the modern game might be a factor.
England’s head of team performance, Phil Morrow, says the demand on props “is high” these days in a sport which increasingly requires players of all shapes and sizes to be more dynamic athletes. However, he believes it is too early to tell whether there is a problem that goes beyond a few individuals in the same position being unavailable at the same time.
“I’m always really conscious that if you take a snapshot sample you could jump to the wrong conclusion,” said Morrow, who was at Saracens for years. “There was one year at the club when we had six broken arms after not having a broken arm for 10 years. We hadn’t changed anything.
“Everyone at the time wanted to find out why, but I would say over the long term it averaged itself out. We’ll keep analysing it and seeing whether the trend continues but we don’t want to jump to conclusions.”
