IRFU confirm worst possible news about Robbie Henshaw’s knee injury

The Connacht centre will now go for knee surgery ahead of his switch to Leinster.

Robbie Henshaw has stepped up for province and country in the last two months. He partnered Bundee Aki in Connacht's midfield as the finished off a superb Guinness PRO12 season in style. In South Africa, he was superb in two tough Tests against the Springboks. Henshaw finally got his chance in the Irish 13 jersey and excelled in the Cape Town win over South Africa. He was solid in defence, on Saturday, but was one of many Irish players to flag late on as the hosts turned a 26-10 deficit into a 32-26 loss. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/744318531496513536 Henshaw injured his knee in the closing stages and it hampered him further. He wanted to play on, as his team came under the cosh, but he eventually left on a medical cart, albeit sitting up. Post-match, Ireland coach Joe Schmidt confirmed the 22-year-old was the biggest injury worry heading into the final Test in the three-game series. He said:

"It will take us 48 hours [to know the full extent of injuries]. There is certainly a lot of fatigue there. "Robbie Henshaw copped a knock in the knee and it is a little bit inflamed. That will take at least 24 hours for the swelling to go down before we can get a decent look at it. We'll just see how that goes."

The IRFU has now confirmed that Henshaw will miss the final game of the season and undergo knee surgery in the coming days. With Henshaw ruled out, Schmidt will be forced to try his third new midfield combination of the tour. The least disruptive decision would be to keep Stuart Olding at inside centre and bring in his Ulster teammate Luke Marshall at 13. The other option would be asking Jared Payne to resume duties at outside centre, which could mean Connacht's Tiernan O'Halloran coming in at fullback.