Simon Easterby is hoping that Garry Ringrose may be available for the final round of the Guinness Six Nations but will likely have to plan without the experienced centre.
The Leinster back is facing a ban after he was sent off for a dangerous challenge in the first half of Ireland's 27-18 win over Wales on Saturday.
Ringrose made head-on-head contact with Wales centre Ben Thomas, who was also the recipient of the tackle that led to France's Romain Ntamack being red-carded in round one.
Initially given a yellow card, the colour was upgraded to red for Ringrose after a bunker review.
Under the new law, Ireland were allowed to replace Ringrose after 20 minutes and Bundee Aki came on to steady the ship in the 52nd minute, making a number of important contributions that helped Ireland overturn a 18-10 deficit.
Ringrose had no previous cards in international rugby over 65 caps before Saturday, and was only once yellow-carded for Leinster, back in the 2016/17 season.
He may point to a late drop in height by Thomas but he'll have to convince a committee that he wasn't reckless if he wants the maximum discount applied.
Similar cases in the past have resulted in initial six-week bans with previous clean records taken into account for 50% off. Passing the 'tackle school' exam can result in another week off.
"You know Garry, he's not a malicious player," said Easterby when asked about the red card.
"The speed at which he works is why that happened.
"He accelerates so hard off the line, just gets his timing wrong and unfortunately that's it. It felt like he maybe was a bit lower than they thought and he did try and dip but not enough.
"We'll have to wait and see how they view that."
Ireland paid a heavy price when Peter O'Mahony was red-carded early in the 2021 fixture, but beneffited under the new law.
"I feel for Garry, it's very difficult," said Josh van der Flier. "I've been in those situations.
"You’re obviously flying into a tackle and everything happens.
"It’s incredibly quick especially at international level, things happen very fast. I know Garry would never do anything intentionally to hurt people, he’s just a very competitive guy.
"And he throws himself into everything. Probably just got it slightly wrong. So it was a bit unlucky on his part.
"It helped us in this situation but I think [the 20-minute rule is] probably is a good thing.
"There’s some things if they’re deliberate and you see deliberate things, clearly done on purpose, then you can talk about [a full red card].
"But when it's clearly an accident, the refs, by the rules, probably have to go for a certain decision and when it's accidental like that I think it’s probably a good rule in that way."
Despite not securing a bonus point in Cardiff, Ireland top the standings on 14 points, three ahead of France, who smashed Italy 73-24 in Rome yesterday.
That 11-try win made Les Bleus' points difference +91, while Ireland are on +28.
With games against France and Italy away to come, and Les Bleus at home to Scotland on the final day, Ireland are unlikely to reel in that deficit.
"Points difference might come into it in the end but if we keep winning, it won't," said Easterby, speaking before yesterday's result.
Easterby will hope to have captain Caelan Doris and Rónan Kelleher available for selection after both missed the Wales game through injury, while Tadhg Furlong is on the comeback trail having not played since mid-January.
Cian Prendergast was ruled out of the panel through illness on the morning of game, while Iain Henderson and Cormac Izuchukwu are also on the treatment table.
