Andy Farrell confirmed that Mack Hansen, James Lowe and James Ryan were Ireland’s primary injury concerns, amid all the usual bangs and bruises, arising from the emphatic 36-14 win over Scotland which set up next Saturday’s repeat World Cup quarter-final against the All Blacks and former head coach Joe Schmidt.
“Obviously, we’ll see how they pull up in the morning but Mack went off with a HIA and when he came back on he felt his calf straight away, so we got him off,” Farrell said.
“James Ryan has a bit of a knock on his wrist that we have to assess more, so we’ll see how he is now.
“James Lowe got a bang in the eye, his eye shut and he couldn’t really see much. His vision was coming back towards the end of the game, which is good. Then, a few more bangs and bruises that we’ll need to assess tomorrow.”
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While these injuries are a concern with the All Blacks lying in wait after a relatively stress-free run to next Saturday night’s quarter-final meeting, it could not dampen Farrell’s satisfaction with his team’s performance.
“I think it was a special performance because Scotland really came of the blocks. Obviously we scored the try early doors, which was a great start but they really came out of the blocks after that. They threw everything at us.
“I thought our attitude, our defence to try and keep them out for long spells was the making of the game. We were calm enough and clinical enough when we got back down the other end of the field to put some points on the board. [It was] A really clinical first-half performance and it had to be because they are a great side Scotland, to get that many points at half-time was a good innings from us.”
Looking ahead to the quarter-final, Farrell said: “Well, it’s what dreams are made of. As far as a quarter-final is concerned it doesn’t get any tougher, the respect we have got for New Zealand is through the roof and hopefully they have got a bit of respect for us.
“We will dust ourselves off first of all and recover properly from this one. But I would say that a couple of weeks ago we got some stick from walking around and thanking our fans. When they turn out in their thousands like this it is the least we can do.”
Johnny Sexton admitted the turnout and level of support from the Green Army even surpassed their efforts of a fortnight previously in that titanic 13-8 win over the Springboks.
[ Ireland 36 Scotland 14: How the Irish players rated at Stade de FranceOpens in new window ]
“I thought it wouldn’t get any better after South Africa a couple of week ago but they have proved me wrong again. They keep turning up for us and it is important that we keep turning up for them.
“Last week they gave us the best day of our life and we gave them something similar if you look around at some of the faces. We are delighted to win the pool, this is where we want to be now in a quarter-final against the toughest opposition we could get. The way the draw was made three years ago it turned out a bit unfair, it is the hand that we were dealt and we have to be ready for New Zealand next week.”
