Ireland head coach Andy Farrell says it's too early to tell the extent of Cian Healy's leg injury, with the loosehead prop emerging as a major doubt for next month's Rugby World Cup.
The 35-year-old suffered a lower leg injury after a collapsed scrum midway through the first half of Ireland's scrappy 17-13 victory against Samoa, and had to be helped from the field while he appeared to be unable to put weight on his right leg.
Healy was seen in a protective boot and on crutches during the second half of the game, and speaking to RTÉ Sport afterwards, Farrell said the injury would be assessed on Sunday.
"I saw what you saw, he pulled up sharp, didn't he, and struggled to get off the field," he said.
"We’ll try get that assessed as soon as we possibly can, first thing in the morning."
Healy's injury was the main fitness concern to emerge from the game, although full-back Jimmy O'Brien also left with a shoulder issue, which Farrell said will require more time to assess.
"Jimmy had a bang on his shoulder, he's had a problem with his shoulder before and this isn’t the same one, it’s a fresh one. It’s how people wake up."
In better news, Farrell was in a positive mood around Keith Earls who sat out the game with a minor issue, reporting that he will be "fit and ready to go" if selected for the World Cup squad - which will be named tomorrow - and the coach said he'll make his final decision on the panel when he has more information available.
"It was always going to be like this, nothing ever goes smoothly. That's why we have to be adaptable as staff and we’ll do the right thing by the squad in the morning."
It was a record 13th win in a row for Ireland, who depart for the World Cup next Thursday as the world's number one ranked team.
However, it was a below par performance from the Six Nations champions, who needed second half tries from Conor Murray and Rob Herring, as well as a late defensive stand, to avoid a shock defeat to an impressive Samoa team.
"We'll take that and move on," a relieved Farrell added.
"It's great learnings for us. The first time we’ve played in the rain, we said we wanted that, the first time we were properly behind and found a way back into the game. There was a lot of weird stuff going on and we were contributing to that. Test match ruby doesn't always go your way, and sometimes you have to find a way.
"We played against a bloody good side today in Samoa, a good side across the board, and we found a way.
"Three tries to one, it’s pleasing to come away with a victory in the end.
"We're itching to get going, we go back to Dublin tomorrow, we have a bit of a get-together with our families and have a few days off. That’s going to be good for us, the calm before the storm, but we’ll be bouncing into Tours – our base – on Thursday and ready to go."
