Ireland wings and prayers: Earls also struggling with a hamstring problem
UPDATE: Monday and Tuesday will tell a lot, says Defence coach Simon Easterby
Ireland’s concerns over wing options for next Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final against New Zealand have been deepened by a hamstring problem for Keith Earls.
Starting wingers Mack Hansen and James Lowe were each withdrawn through injury from the 36-14 victory over Scotland at Stade de France on Saturday night as Ireland cruised into the last eight by topping Pool B with a 100% record.
Hansen has a calf issue he sustained less than three minutes after he returned to the field having passed a first-half Head Injury Assessment while opening try scorer Lowe failed to return for the second half after receiving an accidental finger in the eye from a team-mate.
Robbie Henshaw was the only player unavailable to face Scotland after developing a hamstring problem but while the initial outlook looked bleak for the centre, he was running at last Friday’s eve-of-match training session at Stade de France and he will be further assessed as this week progresses.
Earls, however, did not participate in the pre-match warm-up and assistant coach Simon Easterby on Sunday issued an injury update while also endorsing the ability of the as-yet-unplayed Jimmy O’Brien to slot into the Irish backline if required next weekend.
“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.
"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.
“I don't know if you guys saw Robbie, he did some running at the captain's run, so we probably understand a little more about their injuries. They'll both be running today, Earlsy and Robbie and will sort of be progressing into training Monday or Tuesday.”
Head coach Andy Farrell on Saturday night was optimistic for Lowe’s recovery while admitting the severity of Hansen’s calf issue will take longer to determine.
“Mack went off with a HIA and when he came back on he felt his calf straight away, so we got him off,” Farrell said in his post-match media conference.
"James Ryan has a bit of a knock on his wrist that we have to assess more, so we'll see how he is now. James Lowe got a bang in the eye, his eye shut and he couldn't really see much. His vision was coming back towards the end of the game, which is good."
Of Hansen and Lowe, Easterby on Sunday added: “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.”
Of Earls, the defence coach said: “He's got a slight hamstring, so it's one of those things that at a push he could have been involved this weekend, and it was probably one of those we felt wasn't the right time to risk him, but we were really pleased it was flagged when it was and we had the opportunity to make the call early enough. Fingers crossed he's fully fit for this week.”
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