Dan Sheehan's chances of featuring for Ireland in the 2025 Guinness Six Nations have been given a boost with the hooker potentially in line to make his return from injury for Leinster before the end of the month.
The province say Sheehan has stepped up his training load this week, having been sidelined since suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury during Ireland's first Test against South Africa in Pretoria in July.
Even if he doesn't feature this weekend, Sheehan’s swift recovery leaves the hooker in a good position to play for Ireland in the Six Nations, with interim head coach Simon Easterby set to name his squad for the tournament tomorrow.
"Sheeno possibly in a position to come back, and is training with us for a couple of weeks now, so if things go well and he does get selected it's always good to get someone with that experience back," senior coach Jacques Nienaber said.
"He’s a seasoned international, it’s nice to get the calibre of players that were out for a long time, it’s always nice prospect. "
Wing James Lowe is also close to a return, having been out since suffering a calf injury in Ireland’s final Autumn Nations Series win against Australia in late November.
"He [Lowe] is probably in the same mould as Dan. Obviously they’ve been part of us for a couple of weeks now.
[They are] Training with the team, seeing if they’re comfortable with how they feel from their body’s point of view, their confidence in how they’re running, comfortable with the contact side of things.
"If the payer is comfortable, as coaches we must see if they’re functional, if they’re fitting in, and are we, as coaches, happy with their training performances.
"Lastly, the medical team must be comfortable that they are fully fit. They get rehab, but the last stage is always their introduction back into full contact, full training, and the medical team must be happy that they can cope with that," Nienaber added.
Like Sheehan, Lowe has returned to full training, although head coach Leo Cullen will hold off until later in the week before deciding if he’s ready to play on Saturday.
Flanker Will Connors could also enter into the picture after missing the last five games, while Tadhg Furlong, Jack Conan and Ciarán Frawley all came through Sunday's 16-14 win against La Rochelle unscathed after returning from injury.
Tommy O’Brien is being monitored after withdrawing from last week’s starting team as an injury precaution, while Jordan Larmour has been ruled out due to a hamstring complaint.
