Speaking about the Irish squad's recent good run with injuries, Ireland backs coach Alan Gaffney said: "It's been fantastic. A lot of credit for that goes to the way Declan's controlled things or had things done, also the fitness guys and the strength and conditioning and obviously the medical staff.

"You go to the training sessions - they've now been reduced, they're not long at all and that's purposely been done to keep the players fresh and off their legs.

"We get it done, get a really high tempo in the sessions but get them off the pitch and don't keep them out there for the sake of it."

Click here to view photos from the Ireland squad's training session at the RDS on Monday.