Man down.

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has confirmed that openside Josh van der Flier will likely miss next weekend’s Six Nations clash with Italy at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

The Leinster star limped out of Ireland’s 15-13 win over France late in the first-half, with provincial teammate Dan Leavy replacing him. He’s set for a scan either today or tomorrow to assess the full extent of the problem.

Leavy looks set to now replace him in the starting line-up for the visit of the Azzurri, with Jordi Murphy likely to come onto the bench.

“I think at this stage, Josh will be unavailable next week. He will get a scan either tomorrow evening or Monday depending on when we can get the spot with us travelling tomorrow.” Schmidt said after the win.

“It looks like it could be a medial ligament, just with the mechanism of the injury and that’s just my naive diagnosis.

“I don’t think there’s anyone else other than a lot of fatigue, a lot of bruised bodies and hopefully once we get through tomorrow we will have a better idea by Monday.”