Cronin out of Six Nations

Sean Cronin will miss the RBS Six Nations due to a Grade Two hamstring tear.

Cronin was thought to have suffered a serious injury when he pulled up in the latter stages of Leinster's Guinness PRO12 hammering of Zebre earlier this month.

Although the injury has been described as 'significant' it is not as bad as initially feared with the Leinster hooker ruled out for ten weeks, which will see him miss the entire Six Nations.

“It’s quite a significant hamstring injury. It’s a real shame for him as he’s actually playing great rugby but it’s a good opportunity for us to get him right and make sure we don’t get a recurrence of this because it must be hugely frustrating for him," Leinster assistant coach Stuart Lancaster said.

“He’s got himself into great form and now he’ll miss the Six Nations. He went to push-off and accelerate around the corner and saw it go. He’s deeply disappointed but he’ll be back a better player.”

Ireland begin their Six Nations campaign against Scotland at Murrayfield on February 4 and Cronin's absence will provide Leinster's James Tracy, Munster's Niall Scannell, Ulster's Rob Herring and Connacht's Dave Heffernan with the opportunity to impress head coach Joe Schmidt.

Meanwhile, Sean O'Brien remains a doubt for final Champions Cup pool match against Castres at the weekend.

O'Brien missed the defeat of Montpellier after feeling a tightness in training last week and he has yet to recover from the problem.

"Seanie’s is a bit more residue from last week’s pull which hasn’t really settled down so he’s more of a concern for this week," Lancaster added.

“Obviously make a decision later in the week but having said that Jack Conan, Jamie Heaslip and Josh van der Flier didn’t do too badly and Dan Leavy is a pretty good bench option for us.”

Isa Nacewa suffered a dead leg in Friday's win and will be assessed as the week progressed along with Robbie Henshaw, who was withdrawn from the game due to a tightness in his thigh.

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