Although it will be 24 to 48 hours after the match before the fully extent of Ireland’s injuries will become clearer, James Ryan appears to be the biggest concern of those being assessed.
Several French media sources, including Miki Olympique, have run stories based on footage after Ireland’s 36-14 win over Scotland of Ryan seemingly saying to Caelan Doris “I think I’ve broken my hand”.
Whatever said or felt, of course, was in the heat of the moment, and unsurprisingly defence coach Easterby had no further update on Ireland’s trio of injury concerns arising out of the win over Scotland, namely Ryan, Mack Hansen (calf) and James Lowe (eye).
“No, it’s difficult to say at the moment; 12 hours out of the game, it’s mad when there’s a late kick-off. We’re getting used to them, but we’ve got to give time for injuries to settle and guys to get assessed.
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“It’ll be the next 24-48 hours where we’ll get a good read on those guys, everyone’s in good form but there’s a bit of work to be done in the next 24-48 hours to assess those guys that had bumps.”
Hansen had just returned from completing an HIA when he felt a twinge in his calf and, with Ireland already leading 19-0, left the field permanently to be replaced by Stuart McCloskey, who seamlessly slotted into midfield in a long-awaited and fine World Cup debut.
James Lowe should recover from the blurred vision he suffered as a result of a finger in the eye from a team-mate and forced him to withdraw at half-time, as Jamison Gibson-Park and Garry Ringrose played the second half on the wings.
Robbie Henshaw, who was ruled out of last Saturday’s game, and Keith Earls have hamstring issues, although Easterby said they would be running on Sunday “and will sort of be progressing into training Monday or Tuesday.”
As to their availability for the quarter-final, Easterby said: “It’s probably a little too early to say either way, but if they get ruled out, Jimmy’s been waiting in the wings and did an incredible job last November to come in with a couple of late call-ups and did incredibly well. There’s no issue with Jimmy if he gets an opportunity and hopefully we’ll have a full deck to choose from come Tuesday or Wednesday.”
