Ireland U20 head coach Richie Murphy is sweating on the fitness of Brian Gleeson, with the Munster back row carrying an ankle injury.
The influential number 8 has been ruled out of Friday night's U20 Six Nations meeting with Italy in Cork, with Shannon's Luke Murphy drafted in to the base of the scrum.
Gleeson, who has scored an incredible nine tries in 10 caps for the underage side in the last year, has also been a regular in Munster's senior squad this season with nine appearances.
And the Irish coaching staff will be hopeful the 20-year-old's ankle issue isn't serious enough to keep him out beyond this weekend, with the defending champions next outing being against Wales on 23 February.
"Brian is waiting on a scan today, to get the results back," attack coach Ian Keatley said.
"He had a bit of an ankle problem. We'll just wait and see."
Gleeson's injury forces one of three changes to the team following last week's impressive win against France in Aix-en-Provence, as Ireland won for the 11th consecutive U20 Six Nations game.
With Murphy replacing Gleeson, Sean Edogbo - brother of Munster lock Edwin - comes onto the bench, while hooker Danny Sheahan and prop Andrew Sparrow are replaced by Stephen Smyth and Jacob Boyd respectively.
"It's a 30-man squad and we do want to give a lot of guys a chance.
"A few guys were deserving of their chance and there's such good competition in the group, that when we do have selection meetings, they go on a long time. We want to give the lads the respect they deserve," Keatley [below] added.
Ireland made the perfect start to their title defence on Saturday with a 37-31 bonus-point win away to France, gaining some degree of revenge for their defeat to Les Bleus in the World Rugby U20 Championship final last summer.
And Keatley was thrilled with how his side held their nerve to score the two late penalties that sealed the win.
"There are so many different aspects [that pleased me], so many different battles we went out to win. I think the fact that it was such a hostile environment, it was such a good experience for these lads at U20 level to experience that.
"The fact that we went behind, the fact we kept playing the style of rugby we wanted to play, the fact that the bench came in and made such an impact, and the guys who were U20s last year really stepped up. Brian Gleeson, Joe Hopes, Hugh Gavin, they had a massive impact on the match, Evan O'Connell too at captain.
"It was incredible for those guys to step up and then the new guys getting their experience and stamping their mark. Everyone had an impact in the match, which is unbelievable."
Friday's opponents Italy travel to Cork bottom of the table after a 36-11 defeat to England in Treviso.
However, the former Ireland out-half says they won't become complacent, having experienced first-hand how good the Italians can be just before Christmas.
"I think their underage level, they've ben quite successful over the last couple of years, it's an area they've targeted. They know if they want to be successful further down the line then they need to improve their underage.
"We played Italy around two months ago in UCD, where it was a one-score game in the end. Then they actually played France, the same French team we played last week, around a month ago and actually beat them. It's not a formality at all, this is a very good Italian team with a lot of good players in it.
"Italy, if they can get their tails up, they're very formidable and have a lot of really good athletes in that team that we've taken note of. Also, we're trying to concentrate on our own game for this weekend."
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