IRELAND winger James Lowe is in a fitness race for the start of the Six Nations.
Leinster star Lowe, 32, has not seen any action since the final November Series international with Australia because of a calf strain.
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There was no new update on his return date on the Leinster injury bulletin yesterday, but attack coach Tyler Bleyendaal said that his return is now within “weeks.”
He said: “He’s still away from team training at the minute but hopefully to reintegrate soon.
“I’m not sure how long ‘soon’ is but he’s not training with us at the minute. I’d say weeks.”
Asked if he could be back for the February 1 Six Nations kick-off against England, Bleyendall was upbeat.
He added: “I’m hopeful, but again I haven’t seen him training with us ball in hand.”
While Lowe still has to prove his fitness, there is better news for interim Ireland coach Simon Easterby with Jack Conan, Ciaran Frawley and Hugo Keenan now back, and Tadhg Furlong not far behind.
And the return of Keenan and Frawley – with with Lowe still absent – means Leinster have some real selection headaches in the backline that has occasionally misfired this season.
They face La Rochelle this Sunday looking for a win that would go along way towards securing a high seeding in the Champions Cup knockout stages.
But last time out in Europe, a game of handling errors saw them eek out a 15-7 win over Clermont Auvergne.
Attacking errors were also a feature of the Leinster-heavy Ireland team in the November Series.
But new attack coach Bleyendaal – known by players as ‘Swiftie’ (Tyler Swift, get it?) – is happy to Shake It Off knowing that it will all come good.
He added: “We’re working hard to integrate the kicking game, the attacking game, and the defensive game, we’re putting a lot of energy into that and how it all combines together.
“Purely from an attack point of view, we’re probably making too many simple errors at the wrong time which is stopping our kind of flow which is stopping our ability to build and probably look good.
“Big picture wise, we’re still scoring points, we’re getting the opportunities, we’re very clinical at times and we’re getting points from that.
“I think we can just do a better job sooner or more effectively. We’re definitely not behind schedule (with him being a new coach implementing his system).
“I’m just enjoying the process, I think. The reality is you’ve only coached, you know, some of those international guys, we’ve only coached them for six weeks, maybe four games.
“I’m trying to learn that balance. You’re trying to grow a whole squad’s understanding and skill sets and align with Jacques (Nienaber) and how we are defending.
“I was aware it was going to be like that and I don’t think we’re behind schedule. I think we’re just enjoying the challenge of, we want to be better, we want to perform better.
“And we set our own standards we’re trying to achieve, especially in the attack.”
He hopes that can click in France on Sunday but knows Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle will have their own influence on that.
He added: “You’re also playing an opposition who are trying to ruin everything you do.
“But that’s the art of sport isn’t it? That’s why it’s very competitive and that’s why we enjoy it even though it can be frustrating.
“We’re going to have to be on our game because they are well-coached and they have great individuals.”