Oli Jager emerges as doubt for England but Hugo Keenan and Garry Ringrose close in on Ireland return

Garry Ringrose trained fully with his Ireland teammates in front of a crowd of 5,000 fans at the Aviva Stadium today, with Hugo Keenan also put through his paces behind the goal.

Midfielder Ringrose is pushing for a place in the matchday 23 for the trip to Twickenham on Saturday week, but with Robbie Henshaw shining in the No 13 shirt and Andy Farrell favouring a 6/2 bench split of forwards and backs for the wins over France and Wales, he is in a battle.

Keenan is expected to return to full training next Tuesday and is in a race to prove his fitness for the Round Four game.

Ciarán Frawley trained at full-back as Ireland went through their moves against the U-20s, with the starting XV that beat Wales 31-7 getting another run out together.

Ryan Baird sat out the session with a back spasm, while Oli Jager has emerged as an injury doubt and wasn’t present at the session after hurting his knee during his debut against Wales.

His issue resulted in Finlay Bealham being whisked from Connacht training and back into the Ireland set-up on Tuesday.

Bealham is now likely to come back onto the bench for the game against England, while Baird is expected to be fit and Iain Henderson has remained with Ulster, where he’s rehabilitating his injured toe.

“Garry Ringrose trained with us today, which is good,” assistant coach Mike Catt said.

“It’s nice to have him back, he’s progressing nicely. Hugo did a little bit on the sideline and then did the fitness with the boys, so he’s progressing really nicely.

“Ryan Baird had a back spasm this morning, so he didn’t train.

“Garry and Hugo and the main two that are coming through nicely, so we’ll see how the weekend progresses.

“Garry’s done a couple of unit sessions, so I suppose, yeah, first full session in terms of doing absolutely everything. He’s been running with us in the past couple of weeks as well.

“He’s progressing nicely, so fingers crossed he comes through.

“Hugo’s slowly ticking along nicely. Hopefully, by Tuesday or Wednesday, he’ll be training fully and give us that opportunity. We need that competition in the team for us to drive forward.”

Competition in the midfield is fierce. Catt said.

“Stu McCloskey has been exceptional too and then you’ve got Garry Ringrose knocking on the door, he doesn’t want to give them any other opportunity either, so that competition is driving these guys to another level, and that’s the exciting thing,” the former England international said.

“I thought against Italy Stu and Robbie as a pair worked exceptionally well, and Bundee… The pressure is on and it’s good you have guys like that that can play at that level at that pace.”

If Keenan doesn’t make it, then Ciarán Frawley would be charged with going again at full-back.

“Gats was saying they were going to bombard him with high balls. I don’t think they got many opportunities to do that. He was very safe, a great line for his try,” Catt said of the Skerries native who made his first start against Wales.

“The nice thing with Frawls is his rugby ability and his ability to fit into the way we play the game. Again, he’s just tapping the surface. I think he’s got a lot more to offer. He’s a big man, a powerful guy, and he’ll develop as he goes. A brilliant footballer and you couldn’t ask for much more from him.”

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