Kobe (Japan) (AFP)

"Everything is fine" ... Despite the fate that seems to be hounding, the accumulating injuries and performance not always convincing, the XV of Ireland tries to keep smiling in the storm at the World Cup.

The glitches accumulate ... The third line Jordie Murphy, hit the ribs, left the field against the Russians Thursday night. Opener Joey Carbery (ankle) gave up before the kickoff, while center Robbie Henshaw (calf) has not played since the start of the World Cup. Not to mention the eternal questions about the condition of the opener Jonathan Sexton, present intermittently on the ground.

But after the victory over the Bears (35-0), coach Joe Schmidt has adopted a positive communication: "Johnny (Sexton) is fine, Joey (Carbery) is doing well".

In the same installment of explanations, Schmidt argued that Carbery's last-minute deal was explained by Conor Murray's insistence "who really wanted to play this game".

But the main questions concern Jonathan Sexton. The best player in the world 2018 has never regained its level after a year 2019 almost white, marked by injuries.

Thursday, in Kobe, he released his new status of captain of the XV of Ireland but spent only 40 minutes on the ground.

Victim of recurrent injuries to the adductors, he had been exempted from the previous match, lost against Japan (19-12), and had spent only 58 minutes on the field opening against Scotland (27-3).

"We said he would play 40 minutes this week, maybe 40 to 60 next week (October 12 against Samoa), and I really hope we'll qualify for the quarter-finals and he'll be ready, "Schmidt told ITV.

- "It's a contact sport" -

In the wake, the usual captain Rory Best came to add a dose of positive Friday morning, the day after the match.

Sexton? "A fantastic captain," he assured. I "He played very well, he had 40 very good minutes as a player and captain, there is no hiding: he is a great leader of our team," said the hooker (121). selections, 37), left to rest against the Russians.

Regarding the case of the third line Jordie Murphy, the assistant coach Greg Feek launched: "We will give him the best chance to come back", And the absence of Carbery? "A precaution," says Feek again.

No question of worrying then. "If you look at the other teams, everyone goes very fast, there are a lot of tries scored, the surfaces are firm and the players are doing what they can, it's a contact sport, I'm not For me, it's not that hard, "the deputy in charge of the melee still moderates.

Because the XV of Clover has a status to assume. And a curse to break: never have the Irish gone beyond the quarter-finals.

To ensure their participation in the finals, the Irish must now win against Samoa on 12 October.

Then they will have an extra week to heal their wounds before, a priori, to face South Africa or New Zealand.

© 2019 AFP