Ireland's backline stocks will be tested ahead of Saturday's Rugby World Cup quarter-final against New Zealand, with Keith Earls now joining the list of injury concerns.
The Munster wing wasn't selected for yesterday's 36-14 Pool B win against Scotland, and was a notable absentee in the pre-game warm-up, which all squad members would normally take part in.
It's emerged that a hamstring injury saw Earls sit out the game in Paris, just like Robbie Henshaw whose similar issue emerged last week.
And with James Lowe and Mack Hansen both picking up knocks in last night's victory, it could leave Ireland sweating on the availability of some back-three players.
Speaking to the media on Sunday morning, defence coach Simon Easterby had no update on Hansen, Lowe or James Ryan; Hansen suffered a calf injury upon returning from a HIA and appears to be a real doubt for this week, while Lowe's issue seems less serious having been accidentally poked in the eye by a teammate during the game. Second row James Ryan will also be monitored early this week after suffering a wrist injury.
Henshaw (below) did some light running during the captain's run on Friday, and the Ireland assistant says he and Earls will continue to step up their workload in the next couple of days.
"He's got a slight hamstring, so it's one of those things that at a push he could have been involved this weekend," he said of Earls' injury.
"It was probably one of those we felt wasn't the right time to risk him, but we were really pleased it was flagged when it was and we had the opportunity to make the call early enough. Fingers crossed he's fully fit for this week.
"I don't know if you guys saw Robbie, he did some running at the captain's run, so we probably understand a little more about their injuries. They'll both be running today, Earlsy and Robbie and will sort of be progressing into training Monday or Tuesday."
The growing injury list could see Jimmy O'Brien come in for his first appearance of the tournament against the All Blacks.
The versatile Leinster back is the only player in the squad not to have featured in the opening four games, but Easterby has full faith he can deliver if called upon.
"It's probably a little too early to say either way, but if they get ruled out, Jimmy's been waiting in the wings and did an incredible job last November to come in with a couple of late call-ups and did incredibly well.
"There's no issue with Jimmy if he gets an opportunity and hopefully we'll have a full deck to choose from come Tuesday or Wednesday."
Next Saturday's quarter-final will be a rematch of Ireland's defeat to the All Blacks in the last eight from 2019, but New Zealand will also have revenge on their mind after losing twice on home soil to Ireland last year.
And while Easterby says the names on the teamsheet haven't changed too much from a New Zealand perspective in the last 12 months, they're a side that have come back into form.
"New Zealand have always turned up for World Cups and we've seen the way they’ve dealt with a little bit of adversity in the pre-season game against South Africa and then the game against France could have gone either way to be honest, and they’ve built nicely in the last few weeks in terms of their performances and the way they want to play.
"Personnel wise they'll be fairly similar and as much as we won that series, there was very little between the teams. We're similar in personnel as well, so there won't be a huge amount of change from that team we played in the summer series, and even the team we played in the November before that.
"They've been pretty consistent in the last four years with selection, as have we, so not a huge amount of change from what we were up against in the summer."
The addition of Joe Schmidt (below) to the All Blacks camp is another layer to the narrative of the game.
The former Ireland head coach linked up with New Zealand during Ireland's tour there last summer, and Easterby believes he's seeing Schmidt's influence grow in the side.
However, he says he'll refrain from dropping his former boss a text this week and instead catch up with him, as well as former Ireland scrum coach Greg Feek, at the Stade dee France ion matchday.
"I don't think I'll be making contact, but I guess it's one of those things, you spend a lot of time with people over a period of time, but this week we'll be focusing on ourselves and making do what we can do.
"We'll catch up with Joe and Feeky and the rest of their coaching group after the game.
"Certainly Joe will know plenty about what we're about, the individuals within our group, but we’ll have an insight as well into what they might try and do as well."
Listen to live commentary of Ireland v New Zealand on Saturday on RTÉ Radio 1, or follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News app.
