PADDY JACKSON will miss Ulster’s trip to Edinburgh this weekend, but will be available for selection by Ireland for the rest of their November series.
It emerged on Monday night that the Ulster fly-half, along with team-mate Stuart Olding and an unnamed third man, had been arrested in June this year in relation to alleged sex offences.
The three men were released pending a file being passed to the Public Prosecution Service and Jackson’s solicitors released a statement on Tuesday rejecting the allegations against him.
The 24-year-old had been unexpectedly left out of the 27-man Ireland squad that travelled on Monday to Chicago ahead of their clash with New Zealand on Saturday. An IRFU press release described his omission as being for “personal reasons”.
Ulster director of rugby Les Kiss said Jackson would not have been available for Ulster this weekend in any event under the IRFU’s player management scheme, but that Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt would be able to call upon him for the Dublin fixtures against Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
Olding has also been on the fringes of the international squad, but has been absent in recent weeks because of a hip flexor injury and wasn’t included in the extended Ireland squad named last month.
