In what was a glorious ending to a wholly frustrating game between France and Ireland there was a lingering cloud over the result as Josh Van Der Flier hobbled off in the first half with a knee problem. The news surrounding the injury has not been positive as it has been revealed that the flanker will miss the rest of the season with knee ligament damage.
The 24-year-old was replaced by Leinster team mate Dan Leavy who put in a solid shift as Ireland squeezed past Les Bleus, and will be in pole position for a start against Italy next weekend.
In other news, Dave Kilcoyne has re-joined the squad following a knee injury, while James Cronin could feature for Munster when they play Zebre this weekend.
Jack O’Donoghue and Barry Daly will train with the squad during the early part of this week, while Andrew Conway will continue his injury rehab at Munster.
There is also some follow up to the HIA farce that occurred during Ireland's Paris showdown. Six Nations Rugby Limited released a statement that they would be investigating the circumstances of the injury:
The HIA Review Processor is reviewing a number of incidents from the France v Ireland match in the senior men’s championship. Depending on their findings, SNRL will be considering the next steps in respect of those incidents.
When Antoine Dupont, France’s replacement scrum-half, went down in the 76th minute it was obvious that he had hurt his right knee yet the french medic as well as the independent doctor assessed that Dupont had a head injury, which meant that France could bring on their starting scrum-half Maxime Machenaud. France had no substitutions left but because Dupont's injury was head related, it meant that France were able to bring Machenaud back into the fray.
