Ruddock credits players for clean bill of health

Ciaran Ruddock admits Ireland have had a touch of luck on their side to get through the opening three games of the Rugby World Cup with a clean bill of health, but believes the players deserve the real credit for keeping themselves match-fit.

While the Ireland coaching staff did carry several injured players into the tournament, the knocks to Jack Conan, Dan Sheehan, Dave Kilcoyne and Robbie Henshaw have all cleared up, with a full squad to choose from when they return from their bye-week.

"Obviously there are slight modifications to training etc, but all 33 players are available for the coming week," said Ruddock, Ireland's assistant athletic performance coach.

Ireland's injury luck at the tournament is in real contrast to their Six Nations campaign when a slew of soft tissue injuries in the opening weeks of the competition were followed by more serious contact injuries to the likes of Tadhg Beirne, Iain Henderson and Rónan Kelleher.

And while head coach Andy Farrell previously said they were working closely with the athletic performance team and medical department to ensure there wouldn't be a repeat of those issues from February, Ruddock says the players deserve the bulk of the credit for how they approached the pre-season.

"In terms of how diligently they are working to be the best athletes they can be – from a training perspective, from a recovery perspective, from a nutrition perspective

"Those things hopefully add up to some good practice.

"I feel like the guys have really applied themselves all pre-season, the attitude that they've brought in, which is always incredible, has continued.

"It's been a huge team effort around every aspect of the programme and the team, trying to help us improve. I think we're in a good place