Saturday 8 November 2014 22:09, UK
Ireland are sweating over the fitness of Jared Payne after the utility back suffered a suspected foot sprain in the 29-15 victory over South Africa.
Debutant Payne, paired in the centres alongside Robbie Henshaw, helped the Irish record their first win over the Springboks in five years.
However he hobbled off in the closing stages at the Aviva Stadium and Ireland will now wait to discover the extent of the problem when the ex-New Zealand Under 21 international undergoes further tests on Monday.
"Just chatting to Jared and the doc, we think he might have sprained his foot," said Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt.
"He's had an X-ray that's clear so it's a step in the right direction, not that he's probably taking too many rampant strides at the moment.
"But I'm hopeful that it will be okay, but we won't know until probably Monday evening or Tuesday, because I think there's some scans booked for Monday, just to get a better picture on that foot."
Payne and Henshaw were given the tough task of taking over in midfield from the experienced pairing of Gordan D'Arcy, who was not considered despite recovering from calf trouble, and the now-retired Brian O'Driscoll.
We'll review the game, but coming cold in reflection I thought they both did incredibly well, there was some really physical defence from both players.
Former Leinster coach Schmidt believes his new dynamic duo proved their Test class against one of the most formidable international outfits.
"They did well: I think all week we knew it was a tough ask, and we talked about it on Thursday, and I know it's been a topic of discussion," he said.
"And I know in the end people will make their own minds up.
"We'll review the game, but coming cold in reflection I thought they both did incredibly well, there was some really physical defence from both players.
"Robbie gave us a real gain-line threat, and played intelligently.
"Jared ran a great support line of Rob Kearney at one point and was very quick to get onto that.
"That's the sort of intelligence you want in your backline, because we are very used to having the very best of intelligence in our midfield.
"The two of them combined did a really good job for us."
