Andy Farrell not too worried over injury concerns after victory against Italy in Dublin

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell is not too worried about the severity of injuries sustained by Jack Conan, Jimmy O’Brien and Craig Casey during Saturday’s Rugby World Cup warm-up victory against Italy.

Conan was photographed in a protective boot after leaving the field in the first half at the Aviva Stadium, while full-back O’Brien and scrum-half Casey were withdrawn due to shoulder and back knocks respectively.

Caelan Doris steals the show

Caelan Doris, who was shifted to number eight from the openside flank, shone in Ireland’s 33-17 win as he scored a brace of tries with Dave Kilcoyne, Stuart McCloskey and replacement Cian Healy crossing for their other five-pointers, while Jack Crowley (3) and Ciaran Frawley added conversions.

Speaking of his team’s injury concerns, Farrell said: “They seem not too bad.

“Jimmy’s shoulder has shut down a little bit, it’s something he’s had in the past. Jack lost power in his foot, he seems ok.

“Craig had a tight back which was making his hamstring cramp. They were taken off as precautions more than anything.”

Although they made a sluggish start, an experimental Ireland side recovered and took control of proceedings but did not fully convince, despite the comfortable scoreline.

“To get up and running with a victory is nice, but I think we all know really that it was a bit clunky, to say the least, at times,” said Farrell.

“There was some really good stuff as far as possession is concerned and opportunities to convert were there in spades.

“But we weren’t patient enough to be able to convert that, so I think that’s the morale of the story really.”

Despite not being a regular openside flanker, Doris impressed and was the standout performer, while Frawley, and replacements Calvin Nash and Tom Stewart made their Test debuts.

“I’m sick of him getting man of the match,” joked Farrell about Doris.

“He just keeps getting better and better. We all know he’s good at jackalling and good over the ball and I don’t know whether he took that through the roof because he had a number seven on his back.

“He epitomises what we’re trying to do as far as the player being in control of his own mind.

“It doesn’t really matter whether he makes a mistake or two, he just gets on with the next job the whole time.

“He’s playing extremely well but he’s certainly growing as far as his leadership role is concerned as well. He’s coming on leaps and bounds.”

Ireland move on to Portugal for a training camp before facing England and Samoa later in August.

Meanwhile, Italy head coach Kieran Crowley said: “In the first half, we were dominated all over the place.

Happy with improved second half performance

“Ireland were too good for us in that first half. Second half, we came back but we’ve still got a lot of work to do in our breakdown work and just in general with our management.

“I saw an improvement in that second half – we won the second half, I think, but that’s not winning the game.”

READ MORE: Caelan Doris double helps Ireland see off injury-hit Italy