Back in August, Andrew Trimble appeared set for a place in Joe Schmidt's World Cup squad.
The 31-year-old looked in superb form in Ireland's opening warm-up game against Wales at the Millennium Stadium. However, shortly before half-time, Trimble picked up a toe injury which would not only see him miss the remainder of the game but the World Cup.
That was a game which also saw Ireland shorn of Tommy O'Donnell's services for the tournament. Trimble's injury was a reoccurrence of a problem which had kept him out of action for the previous nine months.
Despite recovering from the injury, Trimble was omitted from the World Cup squad.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, Trimble said he had no complaints with Joe Schmidt's decision.
It was tough.
To be honest, I wouldn’t disagree with the selection. I didn’t really have any complaints. I thought I might have a chance.
I thought I played well in the 40 minutes I played against Wales but then I just picked up another knock on the toe and it just set me back; it broke through a little bit of scar tissue. It just upset my rhythm a little bit.
It just put me back a couple of weeks, they cost me and whenever I got back on the pitch I had to start again. I was a few weeks behind schedule.
I was able to get on the pitch fine, playing rugby was grand but performing to the level that I wanted to perform at wasn’t quite there and that was going to take a few more weeks and I wasn’t there in time.
And whenever you’ve got an abundance of talent on the wing, as Ireland has at the minute, you have to be playing out of your skin and I wasn’t.
Read: Stephen Ferris Is Seriously Critical Of Joe Schmidt's Team Selection For France
Picture credit: Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE
