Oliver waits for news on Goggin rib injury

Ireland U20 assistant coach Grieg Oliver is hopeful centre Dan Goggin will recover from a rib injury in time for their Junior World Cup semi-final on Sunday.

Goggin was forced off early in the second half of Ireland’s 38-0 victory over Fiji after shipping a crunching blow, but Oliver isconfident the experienced Young Munster flyer will shake off the knock in time to face England.

Oliver said: “He took a real heavy knock against Fiji. We are just waiting to see how he is, how bad it is.

“He is a bit better this morning, it settled down a bit overnight, so we are hopeful that he’ll be all right. We have a few bumps and bruises as you’d expect, but in fairness the medical team have been very good. We are looking in decent shape.”

Becoming the first Irish team to make the semi-finals of a Rugby World Cup is a huge achievement for Mike Ruddock’s side, but even before their departure the Irish management team had their eyes on ultimate victory.

A Wales win over France meant Ireland’s bonus-point victory against the Fijians was sufficient to reach the last four, and Oliver now thinks they have a great chance of reaching the final against either hosts New Zealand or South Africa.

“We’re into the play-offs now and we’ll take that with open arms to be honest with you. We don’t really want to be looking too far ahead. It’s a difficult competition to be in because you have to look ahead but you just don’t know how it pans out,” said Oliver.

“England were one of three teams we could have faced in the semis so it’s good that we know where we are now and we know what to expect from England. They are very, very physical and that was the big difference.

“But when you get to asemi-final anything can happen. We’ve coped with the opposition’sphysicality up to now, so we have just got to be spot on with our own game and approach it correctly.