Johnny Sexton was fit enough to have played a part in Ireland's victory over Italy - but he was kept in reserve with England in mind in 13 days time.
Sexton suffered a thumb injury early in Ireland's intensive six-week pre-season training camp.
But Joe Schmidt revealed last night that the out-half should be fine to start at Twickenham on August 24, which will be welcome news to the Ireland camp due to the uncertainty now over Joey Carbery's ankle issue.
"To be honest, he could have played today," said Schmidt of his veteran out-half.
"He trained fully, in the footage I've looked at during the week. Apparently he trained very hard yesterday morning, which was great.
"I anticipate that he'll train fully in Portugal and will be available for England."
Schmidt and his management team have clearly been working on Ireland's attack playing with more variation when they get into their opponents' 22.
First half tries by Dave Kearney and Andrew Conway were finished in either corner after the Italian defence had been stretched under pressure through the centre.
"I think we like to be able to play with enough variation that we can challenge teams in close and with a little bit of width," said Schmidt.
"I thought the variation of our kicking game in the first half allowed us to keep the pressure at their end."
Every performance will be pored over, all the options will be calculated. All of this is to ensure that the Ireland management have the right blend in the squad that will travel to the Far East.
"It's about keeping our options open at this stage to get the best 31 away when we leave on September 11, which is almost a month away," he said.
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