Cian Healy's World Cup prospects may not be known until the last possible moment
The Leinster prop is yet to fully recover from neck surgery, with nerve damage in his hand linked to the operation the main concern for Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt as the World Cup warm-up period intensifies.
At his best, though, the dynamic loose head remains one of the top players at his position in the world, so Schmidt has conceded he may be left with the decision on whether to gamble on Healy for the tournament next month.
"The actual nerve is in good shape and the pressure is bring released off it but it takes a while to recover," Schmidt
told the Irish Independent.
"How long's a piece of string? We know he's making progress. He's a quality individual in the camp, and a quality player, so we'll give him as long as we can to make enough progress so we're comfortable he can reintegrate fully into playing the game."
With four warm-up games, Schmidt has plenty of opportunities to give alternatives such as Jack McGrath and Michael Bent game-time, but what he really wants is to see Healy take to the field at least once before making a decision on his inclusion or otherwise in the final 31-man panel.
"Potentially we'd like to get him into one of the last couple (of warm-ups) and there's a chance of that," Schmidt added.
"If he's made enough progress and is training fully but hasn't played prior to England, and we don't select him for that, then we've got a tough decision to make.
"But if he was fully fit at that stage? Because he's played so many times for us already, and because he's a quality player, you'd want to select him. We won't actually know until the 31 whether he'll be in it or not."
