Ireland are hopeful that Tadhg Furlong will be fit to take some part in this year’s Guinness Six Nations, following a recurrence of his calf injury.
The Leinster tighthead left Ireland’s warm-weather training camp in Portugal on Sunday, having been ruled out of this Saturday’s opening game against England in Dublin.
Furlong has been troubled by a series of soft-tissue injuries in recent seasons, and missed all four of Ireland’s Autumn Nations Series games in November with hamstring and calf injuries.
In total, the 32-year-old missed close to three months with those issues before returning for Leinster’s Investec Champions Cup win against La Rochelle just over two weeks ago, and he has played just…