With Ireland's chances of clinching the series now in the balance after losing to South Africa yesterday, the fitness of Robbie Henshaw plunges Ireland's chances into further doubt.

Henshaw's injury materialised in the latter stages of the contest when the momentum shift was favouring South Africa. And the next two days are going to be critical in determining the centre's availability for the final crunch tie next weekend.

Speaking to the Irish Times, Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt said:

"It’s probably gonna take about 48 hours to be honest. There’s certainly plenty of fatigue there. Obviously, Robbie Henshaw copped a knock in the knee. It’s a little bit inflamed so it’s going to take probably 24 hours for the swelling to go down before we can get a decent look at it. We’ll just see how that goes."

"A few of the other guys were getting cramp, which is obviously a temporary thing, but it’s something we’ll want to try to avoid in the next week’s Test."

Ireland suffered a major capitulation against South Africa yesterday. After heading in at the interval, cushioned by a 16 point lead, Ireland were overwhelmed by the South African resurgence after the restart. Both sides exchanged tries in the early phases, but South Africa took control of the contest in the latter stages of the game.

They crossed the whitewash a further three times to edge in front and sealed the deserved win with a penalty right at the death.