Cullen out for up to 8 weeks

[kendalgerty]

In his current form and condition, I don't see how much Kidney can offer to the Irish team.

Couldn't agree more.

Counting the days.

Ha! Now that's what they call an inadverntent bit of truthtelling. Post above amended.

[Hacker G]

And finally - Why didn't he sort this out when he had his shoulder op. (He mentioned in his book, that his achilles has been a chronic problem for him)

Not too easy to hobble around on crutches when your arm is in a sling too!

[rathgarblue]

Out for 8 weeks but playing on Sat and hoping to play (warm the bench) the following weekend.
All a bit odd.
IMHO he should go now and get the op rather than risk aggravating the injury.

[Donny B.]

Out for 8 weeks but playing on Sat and hoping to play (warm the bench) the following weekend.
All a bit odd.
IMHO he should go now and get the op rather than risk aggravating the injury.

Yeah, from what he's saying today he seems to want to keep managing it. Even if he makes the Ireland bench, and that's unlikely, he'd probably only get a few minutes here and there. Better to go off and get it sorted and come back strong in April.

[artaneboy]

Out for 8 weeks but playing on Sat and hoping to play (warm the bench) the following weekend.
All a bit odd.
IMHO he should go now and get the op rather than risk aggravating the injury.

Yeah, from what he's saying today he seems to want to keep managing it. Even if he makes the Ireland bench, and that's unlikely, he'd probably only get a few minutes here and there. Better to go off and get it sorted and come back strong in April.

Leo is an intelligent man, he knows, as well as we do, the way the Ireland thing is likely to go. I'm surprised that he doesn't go for the operation, so I'm guessing that either he is putting 'patriotism' first (possible) or he thinks he really is better off managing the injury in terms a balance of his availability and effectiveness for the rest of the season. Maybe it's far from certain he can get back for April.

[Scott]

Leo is an intelligent man, he knows, as well as we do, the way the Ireland thing is likely to go. I'm surprised that he doesn't go for the operation, so I'm guessing that either he is putting 'patriotism' first (possible) or he thinks he really is better off managing the injury in terms a balance of his availability and effectiveness for the rest of the season. Maybe it's far from certain he can get back for April.

It's not his call. It's Kidneys. Cullen wants the op next week. He booked himself in

[artaneboy]

Leo is an intelligent man, he knows, as well as we do, the way the Ireland thing is likely to go. I'm surprised that he doesn't go for the operation, so I'm guessing that either he is putting 'patriotism' first (possible) or he thinks he really is better off managing the injury in terms a balance of his availability and effectiveness for the rest of the season. Maybe it's far from certain he can get back for April.

It's not his call. It's Kidneys. Cullen wants the op next week. He booked himself in

Hold on- of course it's his call! What's Kidney (or the IRFU) going to be able to say if he insists that he needs the op? Not much! He could be threatened with the end of his inter-national career- but probably not. And it's not much of threat in Leo's case (unlike a young tyro or an older 'star', as Kidney will never give him anything other thant bit parts of 10 to 15 minur=tes or starts against Japan and Namibia. So he has made the decision himself to cancel the op on the basis of a calculation.

[slum]

Leo is an intelligent man, he knows, as well as we do, the way the Ireland thing is likely to go. I'm surprised that he doesn't go for the operation, so I'm guessing that either he is putting 'patriotism' first (possible) or he thinks he really is better off managing the injury in terms a balance of his availability and effectiveness for the rest of the season. Maybe it's far from certain he can get back for April.

It's not his call. It's Kidneys. Cullen wants the op next week. He booked himself in

Hold on- of course it's his call! What's Kidney (or the IRFU) going to be able to say if he insists that he needs the op? Not much! He could be threatened with the end of his inter-national career- but probably not. And it's not much of threat in Leo's case (unlike a young tyro or an older 'star', as Kidney will never give him anything other thant bit parts of 10 to 15 minur=tes or starts against Japan and Namibia. So he has made the decision himself to cancel the op on the basis of a calculation.

well - i doubt leo is putting his hand in his own pocket to go see the specialist in sweden... if you know what i mean...

[artaneboy]

Come on- they'd hardly refuse to pay for a necessary operation. That would be getting really dodgy

[slum]

Come on- they'd hardly refuse to pay for a necessary operation. That would be getting really dodgy

no, but they could say when it's going to happen. From the little i know of it, he was already booked in with this specialist by LR.

[janeymac08]

Cullen would be needed to captain Ireland if Paul O'Connell got injured. For the world cup games, if POC didn't start, Cullen did and he also captained the team. Other than that, I'd say Ireland would manage without him.