IRELAND EXPECT CENTRE Robbie Henshaw to be available for next weekend’s World Cup clash with Tonga in Nantes.
The Leinster man was due to be on the bench for yesterday’s emphatic win over Romania but had to withdraw with a hamstring concern, meaning Mack Hansen came into the matchday 23.
But speaking this morning in Bordeaux, Ireland assistant coach Simon Easterby confirmed that they expect Henshaw to be available next weekend.
“Yeah, he’s one of a number of those guys who didn’t take part yesterday that we would expect to be ready for selection come tomorrow night,” said Easterby.
“We’re hopeful that Robbie and others who haven’t taken part for whatever reason are available to us next week.”
The others who didn’t take part against Romania yesterday due to injuries were hooker Dan Sheehan, loosehead prop Dave Kilcoyne, and number eight Jack Conan.
Easterby sounded optimistic about their chances of featuring against Tonga.
“I’d say we haven’t ruled anyone out for next week,” said Easterby, who confirmed that there were no new injury issues arising from yesterday’s match.
“We will assess more people today and tomorrow. It’s usually the case that things maybe are flagged 24 or 48 hours after a game as opposed to straight after. As far as we’re aware, everyone came through pretty unscathed so it was great in that sense to get game time in the heat and conditions.
“The rest of the matches in the group are at night so we’ve gone a long way to producing a good performance in tough conditions.”