Ireland suffers a number of injuries in New Zealand Test
Ireland will be without three of its first team players for the Test match against Argentina on Sunday 28 November.
Ireland hooker Rory Best, winger Luke Fitzgerald and full-back Rob Kearney were all injured in the 38-18 defeat to New Zealand.
Best fractured a cheek bone and was replaced by Sean Cronin early in the second half. He is due to have surgery on Monday, and the injury is likely to keep the player out for six weeks.
Fitzgerald and Kearney were injured in the second half. Fitzgerald will also be out for six weeks after he suffered a knee ligament injury. He was replaced by Keith Earls.
Out-half Ronan O’Gara was forced to come on for full-back Kearney after he sustained knee cartilage damage late in the second half. Kearney will undergo exploratory surgery on his knee, and Ireland will have to wait before they can judge how long the injury
will keep the British and Irish Lion out for.
The injury is a particularly cruel blow for Fitzgerald, who has only just returned from a serious knee injury, and although the injury is to the same knee, the new ligament damage is in a different area of the knee.
Irish coach Declan Kidney will be worried about the number of injuries picked up in the game. He already has three players certain to be ruled out with injury.
However, a number of other players also picked up injuries. Inspirational captain Brian O’Driscoll, who scored a wonder try against the All Blacks, has bruised his shoulder.
His midfield partner Gordon D’Arcy picked up a calf strain. and Irish winger Tommy Bowe also picked up a calf strain in the match.
If the trio fails to recover, they will join Best, Fitzgerald and Kearney on the sidelines. This could leave Kidney without all of his first choice back-line apart from his half-back pairing.
Kidney will now have to make a number of changes for the Argentina Test.
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