Murray Kinsella reports from Cardiff

IRELAND SAY KEITH Earls will train fully with the squad tomorrow in Cardiff, while out-half Johnny Sexton is also expected to be involved in Ireland’s session at the Millennium Stadium.

Sexton is recovering from an adductor strain sustained against France last weekend and trained on his own yesterday as Joe Schmidt’s men undertook a session at Sophia Gardens, close to their team base in the Hilton Hotel.

Ireland say Sexton will train tomorrow. Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO

The Leinster man ran 3.5km during his session yesterday, according to Ireland team management, a fairly substantial load for training. Generally, inside backs would hit somewhere above the 4km mark in a high-intensity session, although that distance depends on the content of the training.

Speaking today in Cardiff, Ireland team manager Mick Kearney stopped short of declaring Sexton fit for Sunday’s World Cup quarter-final against Argentina. It may well be that Joe Schmidt makes a final call on Sexton after tomorrow’s training session, which begins at 10am.

Johnny did quite a bit of running yesterday and is expected to train tomorrow,” said Kearney today.

Ian Madigan is standing by to start at out-half for Ireland if Sexton does not prove his fitness.

Earls, meanwhile, completely sat out yesterday’s session. He appeared to pick up an arm injury against the French last Sunday, but Ireland say the issue was simply one of managing the Munster man’s heavy workload.

Earls started all four of Ireland’s pool games and partook in every training session in the World Cup up until yesterday.

“Keith sat out training on Tuesday, basically just managing his load,” said Ireland team manager Mick Kearney today.

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Earls sat out training yesterday in Cardiff. Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO

“Keith had participated in all matches to date, all training sessions, and it was just felt that it was best he sit out training. But he will train fully tomorrow.”

Having Earls train fully tomorrow morning would provide Schmidt with the peace of mind to name the Limerick man in his starting XV after an excellent defensive performance against les Bleus alongside Robbie Henshaw.

Luke Fitzgerald is next in line at outside centre should Earls struggle in training tomorrow.

Schmidt is scheduled to name his matchday 23 for the Argentina clash tomorrow afternoon.