Tuesday Round-Up

McFadden hit for 6: Leinster utility back Fergus McFadden will spend the coming six weeks on the sidelines, after suffering an ankle strain during Leinster’s home loss at the hands of rivals Munster last Saturday. McFadden, who was operating on the right wing, was forced off after just the opening quarter of an hour to be replaced by Mick McGrath, and will now miss the opening rounds of Leinster’s European campaign. Good news for McFadden and Leinster head coach Matt O’Connor alike comes in the news that surgery will not be necessary, simply some rehabilitation work with the medical staff. With six weeks looking the likely time of absence for McFadden, it now looks rather unlikely he will feature for Joe Schmidt’s Ireland during the November Internationals, opening the door for Ulster winger Andrew Trimble to nail down the 14 jersey.

Jordaan surgery: Sharks midfielder Paul Jordaan will be out of the game for as long as six months, after the youngster underwent surgery to repair damage on a hip injury. After impressing throughout the Sharks’ Super Rugby campaign, along with the domestic Currie Cup in more recent times, Jordaan suffered a fracture dislocation of his hip and has already been under the knife to begin the rehabilitation process. 22 year old Jordaan is now likely to miss the beginning of the Sharks’ 2015 Super Rugby campaign. News of Jordaan’s absence comes along with news of an ankle injury to Kyle Cooper, ruling him out of this weekend’s Currie Cup clash with Cape-Town based outfit the Western Province at Newlands.

No risk with Carter: All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen has insisted he will not be taking any risks with star playmaker Dan Carter ahead of next week’s Bledisloe Cup clash with the Wallabies. The dead rubber clash in Brisbane had originally been earmarked as Carter’s return to the international fold after suffering a leg injury which ruled him out of the entirety of the Rugby Championship. However, after recovering from the fracture and lining out for Canterbury in the domestic ITM Cup, Carter was forced to pull out of last weekend’s defeat to Tasman having suffered some pain in a similar area. With Carter unlikely to be involved, it is expected Beauden Barrett will continue at 10 with Aaron Cruden deputising amongst the replacements.

Ryan Sheady