Ireland face an anxious wait over the fitness of Felix Jones after the full-back was taken off injured against France.
Full-back to have scan after being taken off against France
Ireland face an anxious wait over the fitness of Felix Jones after the full-back was taken off injured during their 26-22 defeat by France.
Jones was driven from the pitch in a medical cart in the 71st minute of the clash at Aviva Stadium on Saturday, just 48 hours before the announcement of coach Declan Kidney's World Cup squad.
The Munster player, making his full Test debut, had played his way into contention for the 30-man party for New Zealand but his availability for the tournament has now been thrown into doubt.
"Felix has had an x-ray which didn't show a broken bone, but he'll have a scan tomorrow," Kidney said.
"Only once we know the results of that will we be able to asses it fully. We need to check for ligament damage."
Kidney was able to deliver a more definitive update on prop Cian Healy, who had to be helped from the pitch during in the 51st minute.
He said: "Someone stood on Cian's foot 10 days ago in training and unfortunately someone trod on the same spot today. It's just something that needs a little bit of fresh air and time for the bruise to heal."
Ireland's preparations for the World Cup suffered a further setback with a third defeat in a many warm-up contests.
Bright start
They made a bright start with Cian Healy's try helping them establish an early 8-0 lead, but France amassed 26 unanswered points before a late fightback from the hosts gave the score some respectability.
England complete the four-Test summer series when they visit Dublin next Saturday, a game Ireland will be looking to win if they are to restore confidence in time for New Zealand.
"The pressure's the same for every game. We've tried to win each one and that's what we'll do next Saturday," Kidney said.
"Three losses isn't what we want to have. We'd have liked to have won them all, we haven't hidden from that fact.
"Am I concerned? No not really. In terms of what we're doing and the way we're going about it, I believe we are going the right way."
Captain Brian O'Driscoll, who alongside Gordon D'Arcy and Stephen Ferris completed a successful return from injury, admitted Ireland could not maintain a consistent performance throughout the match.
"Hopefully we'll get better at playing that very high tempo game we produced in the first 15-20 minutes the more we play," he said.
"It's difficult to play for that intensity for 80 minutes. We played for 20 minutes in the first half and 15 minutes at the end.
"We need to play like that for far longer periods if we are to stay in the game against good opposition like France. We were predictable in that first quarter but when we got tired maybe we got easier to read."
