Ireland are set to be without Leinster winger Luke Fitzgerald for the duration of this year’s RBS Six Nations after the player suffered a knee ligament injury in training.
The 28-year-old had reportedly fallen awkwardly after his studs got caught in the ground and will be bitterly disappointed to have suffered another setback in what has been an injury-ravaged career.
Ireland had begun their preparations ahead of this year’s Six Nations and were participating in their open session at the Aviva Stadium when the injury occurred.
Speaking to the BBC, team manager Mick Kearney said:
It was fairly innocuous.
Luke is very unlucky to be out of the Six Nations. He is expected to be out of action for six to eight weeks and at this stage no replacement has been called in.
He was just doing a tackling drill at the Aviva on Friday, his foot got caught in the grass. He was very upset and probably feared the worst.
The Leinster star, who can also play at centre of fullback, has been very unfortunate with injuries during his career and has only managed to amass a total of 34 Test caps since making his debut for Ireland in 2006.
And with Ireland also without another prominent star in Tommy Bowe, who is also suffering from a knee injury, head coach Joe Schmidt will have to decide who starts out wide from the selection of Andrew Trimble, Dave Kearney, Keith Earls and Simon Zebo.
