Joe Schmidt has said that he is "hopeful" over Cian Healy's fitness after the prop had to go off with an ankle injury during Ireland's 42-point defeat to England on Saturday.
The Leinster loosehead limped off the pitch before half-time after appearing to be hurt during a ruck. Club-mate Jack McGrath replaced Healy and played the remainder of the World Cup warm-up.
However, despite concerns that the ankle may have been broken, Head Coach Joe Schmidt confirmed that it was only a sprain.
Speaking in his press conference after the match, Schmidt added that the injury did not appear as bad as was first feared.
“Cian sprained his ankle. He has had an x-ray and that’s clear, so we’re hopeful. He walked from the pitch so we’re hopeful that he’ll be ok.”
Meanwhile, Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray was also taken off during Ireland’s defeat. The Munster scrum-half was taken off at half-time after a first-half collision with England’s Jonny May. It’s been confirmed that he has passed the HIA protocol.
"With Conor, we had a bit of a breakdown in our communications. he wasn't actually meant to go back out before half-time so at half-time we took him off. We were only planning to give him 45 or 50 minutes and to give Luke [McGrath] another decent run.
"That is one of the things at this time of the year leading into the World Cup that you are trying to mix and match and give different amounts of time to different players to let them put their best foot forward and also to try to build some continuity for those players who haven't had as much time in the team in recent years."
Ireland are back in World Cup warm-up action against top World Rugby ranked side, Wales, at the Principality Stadium next Saturday.
Written by Dan Bridge.
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