Van der Flier set for time out with suspected medial ligament damage

Josh van der Flier looks like a long-term casualty after being forced off with a medial ligament knee damage at Stade de France.

"Josh will be unavailable next week," said Ireland coach Joe Schmidt.

“He will get a scan either tomorrow evening or Monday. It looks like it could medial ligament but that is just my naive diagnosis.

“I thought Josh was playing really well for us in that opening 25 minutes.”

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Schmidt had particular praise for the new breed of Irish forward, particularly James Ryan and Dan Leavy (who replaced van der Flier on 36 minutes).

“James Ryan was immense. He carried, he tackled, he worked hard, his lineout work was really efficient as well. Dan Leavy made an immediate impression when he came on. He got over the ball. He got off the line.He carried strongly.

“In those last phases of play I think Dan Leavy made a difference.

That’s what you want off guys who come off the bench. Jack McGrath carried strongly as did Dev in those last few phases.

“One of the best clean outs of the match was Fergus McFadden. It’s one of the the things he does really well.

“That’s why you keep building a squad.”

Despite the 15-13 victory off four Johnny Sexton penalties and the late drop goal, Ireland struggled to break the gainline and never created a clear try-scoring opportunity.

Schmidt blamed the surface and France slowing Irish possession at the breakdown.

"It's very, very difficult to put any team under pressure if the ball is slowing. The try the French scored with the brilliance of Teddy Thomas – they didn't have to go through too many phases, which is hugely disappointing for us.

“There were a couple of knee injuries in that game. The ground was fantastic, very firm, but it was greasy on top and as a result it was hard to get that real purchase and play at a tempo you would like to play at.

“It was incredibly frustrating that we let some ball escape us when we had pressure in the 22 and that we didn’t quite create the try-scoring opportunities.”

On the 41 phase end game leading to Sexton’s winning strike, Schmidt added: “It’s pretty hard to explain how you feel when you think the game has got away and you have let it slip and suddenly you have grabbed it.

“It was an incredible team effort to work their way up the pitch about 40, 45 metres and then add on a 40 metre drop goal. It was fairly inspirational. Even the fact that so many people had to be involved.

"We had to drop kick the ball and Iain Henderson got it back. We played a number of phases, a cross kick for Keith Earls who leapt three or four feet into the air to claim it.

“When he struck the drop goal I was just willing it to have enough distance to get over.

“The coaching staff we all stood up as one and cheered with the other Irish supporters who were in the stadium.

“Johnny hit one against the Scarlets a few years ago to draw that was a cracker and one against England last year which was a cracking drop goal as well.

“I don’t think people realise how hard it is to come here and win.”