It is feared that Dan Sheehan will be out of action for most of next season after suffering a suspected cruciate ligament injury in Ireland's loss to South Africa on Saturday.Sheehan, 27, has already returned home.

The hooker picked up the injury in the 28th minute as he tackled the Springboks' Eben Etzebeth at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, but played on until half-time, when he was replaced by his Leinster colleague Rónan Kelleher.

Kelleher will start in the second and final Test of the series in Durban with Ulster's Rob Herring providing bench cover.

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Munster's Craig Casey has also been ruled out of the second Test after suffering a concussion when tackled by his now former provincial team-mate RG Snyman, with Ireland believed to be unhappy that the new Leinster signing escaped censure for the incident

.Head coach Andy Farrell has other injury concerns, too, with Robbie Henshaw a doubt for Durban as he goes through return to play protocols after suffering a head injury after a quarter of an hour of the action. He was also withdrawn at half-time.

Andrew Porter suffered a hand injury although returned to the fray late on, while Jamie Osborne - who made a try-scoring debut from full-back - has a groin issue.James Lowe and Bundee Aki also picked up knocks and so Farrell could be looking at a reshuffle as Ireland regroup with the aim of drawing the series.

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