Joe Schmidt still has one major injury concern ahead of Six Nations clash with England

The walking  dead wounded.

The battered and bruised bodies that have survived the opening rounds of the Six Nations so far are re-assembling as an Ireland squad at Carton House this afternoon. Joe Schmidt has drafted in a number of new and familiar faces, to freshen up his group after last week’s defeat to France such as Cian Healy and Craig Gilroy. Ireland have already lost a number of key figures from the match-day squad that lined out against France over a week ago, but there at least seems to be good news on two of our key attacking threats for the visit to London. Team manager Mick Kearney explained today that the Munster duo of Keith Earls and Simon Zebo are both fully fit once again, and have recovered from concussion, and a knee injury, respectively. There is also some better news on the fitness of Jonathan Sexton, who rolled his ankle in Mullingar on Friday in the squad’s open training session in front of over 2,000 people. Kearney explained that Sexton was due to take a full part in today’s session, and is not thought to be a concern for the weekend’s action. But Jared Payne is a serious doubt, and has to be considered an outsider to play on Saturday as Kearney explained the Ulster man is struggling with a hamstring injury, which he has described as ‘wait and see’ in relation to his chances of facing Eddie Jones’ side. The squad are due to train again tomorrow, after which another fitness update on the walking wounded is expected. https://twitter.com/patmccarry/status/701767809127358465