Hugo Keenan confident of Twickenham return with Ireland

Hugo Keenan is confident he can shake off his knee injury in time for Ireland's Guinness Six Nations meeting with England at Twickenham on 9 March, with the full-back continuing his rehab at the IRFU's training centre in Dublin this week.

The 27-year-old missed Saturday's 31-7 win against Wales at the Aviva Stadium, having suffered the knock during the second half of the Round 2 win over Italy.

Keenan is yet to return to full training, with the squad currently having some time off before meeting up for a mini camp on Thursday and Friday.

But the Leinster man is still reporting to a camp every day this week, as he looks to be cleared for the Round 4 trip to Twickenham.

"Rehab's progressing well, so that's the plan, hoping to get back for England," he told RTÉ Sport, speaking at an event for Energia.

"I've been worked hard, I've been in rehabbing the last day or two as well while the rest of the squad's been off, so it's always the annoying side of it, you don't really get your days off. I'm happy with how it's coming along, and progressing well.

The injury happened 52 minutes into Ireland's 36-0 win over Italy at the Aviva Stadium, with the Leinster man hit with what he describes as a "Will Connors-esque chop-tackle" by Italian prop Giosue Zilocchi.

While the two down-weeks in the Six Nations have limited the amount of game time he's missed, the meeting with England on 9 March will have seen him out for four weeks.

And while his time in camp has been limited to the rehab room and the gym in recent weeks, his value to the team is now such that he was kept in the squad by Andy Farrell to contribute behind the scenes.

"I saw him [Zilocchi] coming out of the corner of my eye, so I managed to get my legs off the ground, which meant a