Later today, Joe Schmidt will name his team for Ireland's World Cup opener on Saturday. Up until now, the big question revolved around just how strong a team Joe Schmidt would select to take on Canada.
Granted, there's still some questions about Cian Healy's fitness but the injury update we got earlier in the week suggested that Schmidt had a full squad to pick from and it was merely a matter choosing how many players he wanted to use before we get down to the business end of things in a couple of weeks time.
However, the Irish Times are this morning reporting that all is not quite so fine and dandy. It seems Robbie Henshaw has been struck down with injury and is unlikely to be part of the squad to face Canada. In itself, that's far from the end of the world. However, the big question surrounds the extent of that injury.
Although he did travel with the squad to Cardiff, that's something we're going to have to sweat over for a few more hours with an announcement on the injury set to be made when Schmidt officially names the team that will take to the field at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
The given wisdom seems to be that Schmidt will look to Luke Fitzgerald to fill the Henshaw shaped hole in the centre with Iain Henderson reportedly having done enough to pip Devin Toner to slot in alongside Paul O'Connell. In the other big selection decision, it seems Schmidt will opt for Keith Earls and Dave Kearney on the wings in a lineup that, Henshaw aside, appears to be very close to what you could consider to be his first choice.
