Ireland’s post-match dressing room surely resembled a battlefield triage unit.
Joe Schmidt’s men were left battered, bruised and hobbled.
Keith Earls was taken from the pitch in a neck brace.
That was the worst of it but he only tops a worrying list. Johnny Sexton, Peter O’Mahony and, rather worryingly, Luke Fitzgerald join him on that list.
It is exactly three weeks until Ireland take on Canada at the World Cup.
It is only 24 hours, however, until Schmidt is supposed to select his 31-man squad for the tournament.
Barring miraculous recoveries, Earls and Fitzgerald will be lucky to make the cut.
It almost seems secondary that Ireland lost 16-10. Almost, but Schmidt never looks on defeats that way.
In his post-match briefing, Schmidt said: ‘Keith just got caught with his head the wrong side of the tackle. He was completely lucid in the changing rooms. he remembered his involvements in the game, so they are both promising signs.’
The New Zealander said Earls’ was placed in a neck brace as a precaution but the main concern, for now, is concussion. He will follow return to play protocols over the coming week.
As for Fitzgerald, Schmidt said he sustained ‘a dint on the upper part of his glute [near the hip].’
‘Talking to Luke,’ he added, ‘he’s uncomfortable but that will be bruising. It will be very uncomfortable when it is close to the bone. He maybe two or three days or five or six days recovering from that.’
Asked if the injuries would affect the players’ World Cup chances, Schmidt said, ‘I don’t think so but it is very, very early to tell… They’ll be monitored.’
Strauss ‘rolled his ankle’ but is feeling okay. As for O’Mahony, who nursed a sore arm for two minutes before going off soon after, the coach said he was ‘good, thanks’.
Welsh coach Warren Gatland says he was speaking to Schmidt pre-match.
‘Our biggest fears today were picking up injuries… I don’t know how Keith Earls is.’
His biggest concern is captain Alun Wyn Jones but he said the lock went off as a precaution. He names his World Cup squad on Monday and is waiting on positive updates on Samson Lee and Liam Williams, who missed the win today.
