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Garry Ringrose out of England clash and could miss PRO14 final and European game against Toulon

Garry Ringrose of Ireland attempts to make a break against Scotland. Photo: Paul Devlin/Sportsfile Expand

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Garry Ringrose of Ireland attempts to make a break against Scotland. Photo: Paul Devlin/Sportsfile

Garry Ringrose of Ireland attempts to make a break against Scotland. Photo: Paul Devlin/Sportsfile

Garry Ringrose of Ireland attempts to make a break against Scotland. Photo: Paul Devlin/Sportsfile

Cian Tracey and David Kelly

Ireland centre Garry Ringrose is set for a spell on the sidelines due to the ankle injury he picked up in last Sunday’s win over Scotland.

Ringrose has been ruled out of this weekend’s Six Nations finale against England and the Irish Independent understands the 26-year old could be facing four to six weeks out with syndesmosis.

Having undergone a scan yesterday, some damage to his ankle was revealed and while Ringrose is hopeful of avoiding surgery, the injury will be monitored closely over the coming days.

Should he be ruled out for at least a month, Ringrose would miss Leinster’s PRO14 final against Munster, as well as the province’s last-16 Champions Cup clash against Toulon, and a potential quarter-final.

Ringrose suffered the injury during the second half at Murrayfield and although Ireland had two unused backs (Conor Murray and Billy Burns) on the bench, the stricken midfielder played through the pain.

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Speaking after the game, Ringrose said: “Just towards the end, I took a knock on it, so I was limping a bit, but it’s kinda one of those ones you need to just grit the teeth and get on with. Hopefully it doesn’t present too badly now.

James Ryan (head) has also been ruled out of the meeting with England, but Peter O’Mahony is back in the squad following his three-game suspension.

Meanwhile, Leinster assistant coach Felipe Contepomi has backed under-fire wing James Lowe to emerge from the defensive issues that have dogged him during his first six months in a green jersey.

Lowe has undergone a storm of criticism for his role in costly concessions against France and Scotland during this Six Nations campaign but his club coach has leapt to his defence.

“Definitely, I back him up,” said Contepomi. “He is a guy that tries to get better and I will definitely back him up. But I’ve heard before Jacob Stockdale also being criticised, that’s also the life of a winger.

“Everyone gives them praise when they have the ball and move forward then they have to make sure they don’t make easy mistakes in defence because they are going to be criticised.

“I always say defence has two parts. One is the individual responsibility, that is the tackle itself and your technique and so on. The other one is the collective responsibility and that’s more towards the system and how you respect and get to know and perform in the system.”

Contepomi pointed out Leinster and Ireland have differing defensive systems which may complicate Lowe’s transition. “I’m not in the Irish set-up so I don’t know exactly how their defensive system works. From what I can see from the outside, as a spectator, I can see the system is different to the system we have here.

“In terms of his defence, his individual technique and so on, James Lowe is not renowned for his defensive attributes. He is more renowned for ball-in-hand moving forward, so definitely it wouldn’t be his best part of the game. But he has been good enough with us, definitely there are things to work on and we always have that but it’s not only with James,” added Contepomi.

The former international out-half doesn’t believe that Lowe’s confidence will be damaged by this torrid experience, especially with his club side battling for two trophies when he returns to their HQ next Monday.

“Knowing him, he is quite a relaxed guy in terms of always being very confident in himself. I don’t know if that’s the problem.

“Maybe the expectations were very high, I don’t know, but you need to give him time to get things right and experience it.”

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