Ireland fear Jack Conan’s foot injury could prove a World Cup setback for the Leinster loose forward.
Conan was meant to start Ireland’s Pool A clash with Japan in Shizuoka on Saturday but suffered a blow to his foot in training on Thursday.
Peter O’Mahony has stepped into the starting line-up leaving Ireland selecting the same pack that subdued Scotland 27-3 in Yokohama last weekend.
Ireland hope Conan will be fine to work back to fitness quickly, but scrum coach Greg Feek has admitted the 27-year-old will not know the full extent of his injury until after Saturday’s match.
“At this stage, Jack is just a wait and see,” Feek said.
“We’re going to get some opinions on that over the next couple of days, and go from there.
“It’s a little bit of a setback at this stage, but once we get the game out of the way and he gets fully assessed we’ll have some more information on that. So probably after the game I’d say.”
Munster flanker O’Mahony failed a Head Injury Assessment (HIA) in Saturday’s Scotland victory, lasting just 25 minutes of the Yokohama clash.
But the British and Irish Lions star subsequently passed all head injury checks and returned to full training on Tuesday.
And now O’Mahony has admitted he is itching to get back into action having proved his readiness to return to the Ireland line-up.
“It’s not something you plan, obviously it’s my second World Cup but the first game of the tournament and it wasn’t ideal to be coming off that early,” he said.
“But, it’s part and parcel of rugby these days. I passed all the protocols, I trained fully on Tuesday and I’m ready to go.
“I’m feeling fresh, I only got 25 minutes or whatever so I am looking forward to playing.”
Meanwhile, Japan prop Yusuke Kizu and then his head coach Jamie Joseph have this week hit out at Ireland’s scrum, insisting Joe Schmidt’s side can be prone to bending the rules at the set-piece.
Feek shrugged off that suggestion however, claiming head coach Schmidt has turned Ireland into the most disciplined Test team of the last 20 years.
“There’s always going to be the odd occasion where two front-rows might not agree on things, or the referee might not get it right, but that’s all part of the game,” he said.