Simon Easterby has allayed fears that Jack Conan is an injury doubt for the Rugby World Cup in France next month.
The Ireland squad are in Portugal this week for a warm-weather training camp, but Conan has stayed behind to rehab a foot injury he picked up in Saturday's 33-17 win against Italy.
The Leinster number 8 also saw his 2019 World Cup campaign ended after just one game due to a foot injury, but Easterby says the current knock is nothing like the issue which he endured four years ago.
"No, genuinely not," the Ireland defence coach said, when asked if Conan was a doubt for the tournament.
"Jack has, in the past, had troubles with his foot but it's nothing like it was back in 2019.
"He was pretty bullish around the injury. From everything that we're hearing - and we haven’t had full feedback yet - but everything we’re hearing is it’s a positive injury as opposed to a really negative one."
Ireland's Pool B opponents South Africa haven't had as much luck on the injury front, with centre Lukhanyo Am, out-half Handre Polland and lock Lood de Jager all missing out on Jacques Nienaber's squad due to fitness issues.
The World Cup-winning trio would all likely have been in the Springboks' first-choice XV if fit, but Easterby (below) says the defending champions have more than enough depth to deal with the issue.
"They certainly were [important] in 2019 but I guess across the last four years a lot of those guys haven't had a lot of game time, they've had injuries and obviously due to selection now those injuries either haven't cleared up or they've had new injuries.
"So I think South Africa are a team that are comfortable enough to pull in pretty good quality around players they have picked in positions that maybe in past were filled by the likes of Lood de Jager, Handre Pollard and Lukhanyo Am in the 2019 World Cup.
"But it's sides of old, squads of old and we're no different, South Africa are no different, you have to adapt and I think they've shown that they have adapted in terms of selection over the last few years anyway, it's not like it has come as a big surprise," he added.
Having moved from forwards coach to the defensive role since the arrival of Paul O'Connell in 2021, Ireland's defence has thrived under Easterby.
In each of the last three seasons, Ireland have conceded the fewest points and the fewest tries in the Six Nations, giving up an average of just under 15 points and 1.3 tries per game in the competition during that time.
Against Italy on Saturday Ireland were relatively comfortable throughout, but did concede two second half tries.
And Easterby says the easy access to the 22 they afforded Italy is something he wants to address.
"I don't think either [try] irritated me any more than the other but frustrating in that I think a lot of the things that we try to do as a team defensively is make sure we become hard to score against, and we probably make it hard enough for Italy to score their two tries.
"Part of that is our discipline, making sure that we don’t give them access into our 22, which we were very good at during the Six Nations, but also our ability that when a side does get in there, to make sure that it’s much harder to score than it was at the weekend.
"It was our first chance to try and put into practice some of the things we have been working on so far, across the first five weeks we have been together.
"Some of those things came out really well and were strong parts of our game, and there were other parts where there are things to work on.
"So, I guess, in terms of evaluating the performance, it was a strong Italian side and we feel like we have put a good marker down. There is plenty to improve on but it was a good start for us and it is just a start.
"We've got the opportunity now in the next couple of weeks to build a performance for England and then Samoa," he added.
Watch live coverage of Ireland's Rugby World Cup warm-up games v England (19 August) and Samoa (26 August) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio, or follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News app.
