Ireland assistant coach Mike Catt says they're still assessing the foot injury sustained by Dan Sheehan in Saturday's Rugby World Cup warm-up win against England at the Aviva Stadium.
The Leinster hooker departed 36 minutes into the 29-10 win with a foot injury, and was pictured wearing a protective boot and using crutches after the game.
On Saturday night, head coach Andy Farrell said Sheehan "lost power" in the foot, an issue which has also ruled Jack Conan out of action in recent weeks.
Sheehan, Conan and loosehead Dave Kilcoyne all stayed back in Dublin this week, with the Ireland squad in Biarritz ahead of Saturday's final warm-up game against Samoa in Bayonne.
"We still haven't got confirmation on what it is," the Ireland attack and backs coach Mike Catt said.
"He's still seeing a specialist, obviously he's being rehabbed back in Dublin so hopefully Andy [Farrell] will have a bit more of an answer tomorrow.
"As it currently stands he's seeing a specialist and getting the proper treatment accordingly, really."
A report in the Irish Independent suggested the injury could rule Sheehan out for between six and eight weeks which would see him miss most of - if not all - Ireland's pool games.
And Catt woudn't be drawn on whether Ireland would be willing to carry an injured player like Sheehan for the duration of the pool stages, if needed.
"Yeah, like I say he's still being diagnosed so we'll have a much better idea tomorrow or on Thursday in terms of where he's at and when his back to return dates are.
"I think what you get from Dan is one of the best hookers in the world currently, so he's going to be missed in whatever team he plays in, but again we've got full faith in Rob Herring, Ronan Kelleher and Tom Stewart obviously, who is showing his face at the moment.
"So it gives these guys an opportunity to have a pop this weekend and again, depending on the diagnosis, we'll see how we go on the back end of it.
"Again, Dan is a world class rugby player, he has been instrumental in terms of how we play our game. So he'd be a big loss to anybody.
"He hasn't been in camp with us, we flew out straight away after the game on Sunday morning, he stayed in Dublin so we haven't been able to speak to him. Obviously Andy and the medics are dealing with that side of it. We have a team to prepare so we're doing that."
Diarmuid Barron (below) joined up with the Ireland squad in Sheehan's absence this week, with Farrell hinting last Saturday that he is likely to have settled on his final 33-man squad for the tournament before Saturday's meeting with the Samoans.
And Catt says selection meetings have been lively in recent weeks, with some difficult decisions to be made.
"Yeah, there's always good conversations to have and that's what you want when it comes to a good group of players like that.
"Listen, I've been on the receiving end of it as well in my career so it's not pleasant for certain people but you've got to make decisions somewhere along the line.
"With the way the game has gone and your HIAs and yellow cards and all that sort of stuff, any one of the guys that we release currently that have been with us for eight weeks, nine weeks, we'll see them back. That's just the nature of the game at the moment.
"So, they're still massively part of the game and the squad, but we've got to make a decision somewhere along the line," he added.
Watch live coverage of Ireland v Samoa on Saturday 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.
