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Behind the scenes, Ireland are cautiously optimistic that Sheehan will be able to play a part at the World Cup as he meets with a specialist back in Dublin.
The hooker has remained at home with Jack Conan (foot) and Dave Kilcoyne (hamstring), while Rónan Kelleher, Johnny Sexton and James Lowe were not involved in today’s session which took place in hot conditions in the Basque city.
Rúaidhrí O’Connor in Bayonne with the latest on Dan Sheehan and Ireland vs Samoa
Andy Farrell is due to name his squad this week, but the Sheehan injury presents him with a headache as he decides on the balance of who to bring.
And Catt said it would be Thursday before the head coach would be able to deliver a definitive update on the injury.
“We still haven’t got confirmation on what it is. He’s still seeing a specialist, obviously he’s being rehabbed back in Dublin so hopefully Andy will have a bit more of an answer tomorrow,” Catt said.
“As it currently stands he’s seeing a specialist and getting the proper treatment accordingly, really.
“He’s still being diagnosed so we’ll have a much better idea tomorrow or on Thursday in terms of where he’s at and when his back to return dates are.
“What you get from Dan is one of the best hookers in the world currently so he’s going to be missed in whatever team he plays in, but again we’ve got full faith in Rob Herring, Ronan Kelleher and Tom Stewart obviously, who is showing his face at the moment.
“So it gives these guys an opportunity to have a pop this weekend and again, depending on the diagnosis, we’ll see how we go on the back end of it.
“Again, Dan is a world class rugby player, he has been instrumental in terms of how we play our game. So he’d be a big loss to anybody.”
Andy Farrell has said he plans to pick a mixed side for the final warm-up game against a strong Samoan side who have Leinster assistant Andrew Goodman on board as an assistant.
And Catt wants to see an improved performance.
“We need to be a lot more clinical. We need to play our way, we know exactly what’s coming with Samoa, they are a big, physical side, we need to make sure we play our game and play at a tempo that we’ve trained for the past eight, nine weeks to play at,” he said.
“So it’s making sure the guys are in the right frame of mind, it’s their final opportunity really to put a gauntlet down for selection and we want to go into the World Cup on a massive high.
“So we really want to be able to take our game…we haven’t performed particularly well against Italy or England, we definitely felt a bit rusty or ‘clunky’, as they put it, so it’s an opportunity for us now to fix the fixables.”
While the team are busy preparing for the game on Saturday in what is a dry-run for the World Cup itself in terms of logistics, the coaches are fine-tuning their 33-man squad behind the scenes.
“We’ve cut the squad a little bit, so in terms of bodies we used, your first game of the season you’re always going to be sore,” he said.
“Boys will be coming back to training at different times, different mentalities and stuff. It’s hot, it’s proper hot, and the ball’s a little bit slipperier. In terms of that, there’s humidity at that time of night we’ll play, so I think it’s a great preparation.
“Again, Samoa are big physical guys, they play some good stuff and have some talented guys, so for the games that are coming up it’s going to put is in good stead going into the World Cup for a final game.
“Yeah, there’s always good conversations to have and that’s what you want when it comes to a good group of players like that.
“Listen, I’ve been on the receiving end of it as well in my career so it’s not pleasant for certain people but you’ve got to make decisions somewhere along the line.
“With the way the game has gone and your HIAs and yellow cards and all that sort of stuff, any one of the guys that we release currently that have been with us for eight weeks, nine weeks, we’ll see them back.
“That’s just the nature of the game at the moment. So, they’re still massively part of the game and the squad, but we’ve got to make a decision somewhere along the line.”
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