Rugby: Ireland's World Cup preparations suffered yet another setback today after Gordon D'Arcy sustained a calf strain during a recovery session ahead of the flight to New Zealand. As a result, D'Arcy will not travel with the rest of the squad this afternoon but will join them at their Queenstown base later in the week.
Ireland’s build-up has been beset by problems with Felix Jones and David Wallace already ruled out of the tournament with long-term injuries. Cian Healy won’t travel until the weekend as he receives treatment on a damaged eye socket, while Brian O’Driscoll, Seán O’Brien, Jerry Flannery and Jamie Heaslip all travel south with knocks picked up during the warm-up series.
D’Arcy missed the opening two matches in August as he recovered from an ankle operation but did feature in the home defeats to France and England. Despite two underwhelming performances at the Aviva Stadium, Ireland coach Declan Kidney can ill-afford to do without the Leinster centre.
"Gordon D'Arcy suffered a calf strain this morning during a recovery session in Dublin," said team manager Paul McNaughton today. "On medical advice we are not going to bring out Gordon with us on this flight and are going to delay it for about 48 hours.
"That's the best medical advice we had. Just let the injury sort itself out. He is still due to fly out on Saturtday. He's not ruled out of anything yet. Its a slight calf strain and we'll re-scan it before he flies out."
Elsewhere, it has emerged the knee injury that could threaten Wallace’s career will keep the Ireland and Munster backrow on the sidelines for a minimum of six months. The 35-year-old suffered serious ligament damage after being felled by Manu Tuilagi during the fourth and final defeat of the summer last weekend.
Munster confirmed today that Wallace “is expected to be sidelined for at least six months”. That diagnosis means Wallace may miss the entire pool stages of the Heineken Cup, which end in January, as well as a significant chunk of the Pro 12 season.
Wallace agreed a one-year extension to his Munster contract last February with that deal due to expire at the end of the current campaign. Jones is due to see a specialist next week about his ankle injury. The 24-year-old is also expected to be sidelined from months rather than weeks.
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