Twenty-year-old Connacht academy prop Billy Bohan will travel with the Ireland squad for their pre-Six Nations training camp in the Algarve this week in place of the injured Jack Boyle, whose withdrawal has added to something of a crisis at loosehead for head coach Andy Farrell.
As was expected after his removal on a mobile stretcher during Leinster’s 34-23 win over Connacht at the Dexcom Stadium on Saturday night, Boyle has been ruled out indefinitely with a leg injury which is feared serious.
This compounds the absence of fellow looseheads Andrew Porter and Paddy McCarthy due to calf and foot injuries respectively – with the latter undergoing an operation last week – for Ireland’s opening game against France at the Stade de France on Thursday, February 5th, and quite likely for the entirety of the tournament.
Munster’s Tom Ahern has also been ruled out, with Cormac Izuchukwu called up as the squad assembled in the IRFU high-performance centre on Sunday prior to their departure for Portugal on Monday.
Izuchukwu’s Ulster team-mate Robert Baloucoune will continue to be assessed over the coming days after being withdrawn at half-time in the province’s loss away to the Scarlets on Saturday.
The remaining looseheads in the Irish squad are the Munster pair of and Jeremy Loughman and Michael Milne, who have five and two caps respectively.
Jack Boyle receives medial treatment during Leinster’s URC game against Connacht at the Dexcom Stadium on Saturday. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
Bohan, grandson of former Irish Championship-winning coach Mick Doyle, has had a remarkable rise in the past couple of months having lined out for Corinthians in Division 2A of the All-Ireland League as recently as last November.
He made his Connacht debut as a replacement in their 52-0 Challenge Cup win over Georgian side Black Lion in early December and has since started three games – away to Montpellier, and at home to Montauban and Leinster.
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen did not shed much light on Boyle’s injury, but admitted: “It didn’t look great. It looks like he’ll be out for a while unfortunately.”
Bohan helped win three scrum penalties in a strong 50-minute showing, vindicating Stuart Lancaster’s faith in him. But the head coach spoke for all in Connacht Rugby when he described their defeat in front of a record 12,481 attendance as the new Clan Stand was officially opened as “gut-wrenching”.
Asked how his side will attempt to avoid a mental hangover after such a marquee game ahead of facing Zebre away next Saturday, Lancaster said: “You roll your sleeves up and you don’t allow anyone to feel sorry for themselves for a start, and you impress on the players that we’re not here just to compete, we want to win.
“I’m not interested in putting on a good spectacle. We want to win rugby games and we have to have that mentality. If that comes from me, then that comes from me, and I’ll drive that within the group and make sure that they have that mindset going into Zebre away.
“It’s a critical game for us now because our goal is to come top eight and ‘nearly’ is not good enough.”
Another blow for Connacht was news that home-grown scrumhalf Matthew Devine, a star of the Ireland Under-20 Grand Slam-winning team of 2022, is to join Ulster next season.