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Ireland number eight Jack Conan is \u201cin a great place\u201d and in contention to return from a two-month injury absence in his country\u2019s pivotal Pool B clash with Scotland.<\/p>\n
Andy Farrell\u2019s side resumed training on Thursday following some time off after Saturday\u2019s thrilling 13-8 victory over World Cup holders South Africa.<\/p>\n
All 33 squad members were involved in the session at the team\u2019s base in Tours, including back-rower Conan, who sustained a foot injury in the warm-up win over Italy on August 5, and Stuart McCloskey, who briefly returned home for the birth of his second child.<\/p>\n
Defence coach Simon Easterby revealed the recovery of British and Irish Lion Conan has not been without setbacks, but says \u201cthere\u2019s no reason why he won\u2019t be available\u201d against the Scots on October 7.<\/p>\n
\u201cJack is a really important part of the squad,\u201d said Easterby. \u201cHe\u2019s good around the group.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAt certain stages he\u2019s probably felt like it might not come right, but he\u2019s worked really hard with the conditioners, with the physios, with nutritionists, so I think he\u2019s done everything he can to get himself in this position.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I guess we\u2019ve been fortunate with injuries in his position as well that we haven\u2019t had to call upon him. A number of things have aligned to allow Jack to get himself right.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/Cxqa8UOMPc8<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Faz (Farrell) talked about that position and him (Conan) not having had the rugby coming into the World Cup, we all felt it was the right thing to do to have him and give him the opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re starting to see the Jack that we\u2019d liked to have seen a few weeks ago but injury has obviously not allowed him to be in that place.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike anything, I guess he\u2019s got a bit of work to get through, but certainly he\u2019s in a great place and we\u2019re 33 at the moment, fit and ready to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no reason why he won\u2019t be available next week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Centre McCloskey is one of three Ireland players yet to feature in France, alongside Conan and versatile back Jimmy O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n
Speaking of the Ulster player, Easterby said: \u201cStuart McCloskey\u2019s become a dad for a second time as well, which is great. He\u2019s a happy man now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ireland put themselves on the cusp of the quarter-finals by defeating the Springboks in Paris.<\/p>\n
Yet the Six Nations Grand Slam champions are likely to need to complete the job when they to return to Stade de France a week on Saturday to take on Gregor Townsend\u2019s side.<\/p>\n
Easterby insists Ireland will have little issue switching attention to the forthcoming challenge following the euphoria of last weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not hard to focus on what\u2019s coming up, even though that might not be what people think,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cScotland are a brilliant team, they have the ability to play lots of different ways.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey can mix it up front with their forward pack, strong maul, scrum, as we saw against South Africa (an 18-3 loss on September 10).<\/p>\n
\u201cBut they can also play an expansive game with some exciting backs that can really hurt you if you\u2019re not on it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s definitely no lack of focus for us.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe always planned to have that few days off regardless of what the result was against South Africa and we knew that this final game in the pool would be pivotal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to make sure that we prepare exactly how we prepared for the first three games against Romania, Tonga and South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n