D'Arcy will be a key component of the Irish midfield come the World Cup © PA Photos

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Players/Officials: Gordon D'Arcy | Jamie Heaslip

Tournaments/Tours: Rugby World Cup

Teams: Ireland

Ireland centre Gordon D'Arcy's injury woes show no signs of abating after he suffered a calf strain in training.

The Irish centre sustained the injury during a team recovery session following their defeat to England on Saturday. Ireland team manager Paul McNaughton confirmed that D'Arcy is expected to join up with the squad imminently saying: "On medical advice we are not going to bring Gordon out on this flight and delay it by 48 hours."

D'Arcy's injury was scanned and to reduce the risk of swelling on the flight, medical staff have advised that it is more prudent to allow the strain time to recover before he links up with the rest of the Ireland squad in Queenstown.

But McNaughton confirmed that the injury does not currently rule D'Arcy out of any games. "Gordon is not ruled out of anything yet - it is a slight calf strain and we will re-examine it before he flies out."

The 31-year-old was originally a World Cup doubt after he underwent surgery on his ankle in July. However the Leinster centre made a swift recovery and started against England in their 20-9 reverse on Saturday.

D'Arcy's long-time centre partner Brian O'Driscoll is optimistic about taking part in the opener against the United States on September 11. "I'm really hopeful to be (involved)," O'Driscoll said. "There is no reason that I shouldn't be.

"Probably at a push I could have played in the England game, but I think it was just smart to stay out of it. Sometimes you have to balance a bit of match-fitness for weighing up against some knocks and some bumps and bruises that you have.

Despite a run of warm-up games which saw the Irish lose to Scotland and France (twice), O'Driscoll remains upbeat. "You would always have hoped for a win or two in those games, but we didn't get them," he said. "I think we have shown signs of some really good stuff at times. We weren't playing in a World Cup. The World Cup is our next game and we are just going to kick it off with the best possible attitude and the best possible performance we can have and take it on from there."

In other medical updates - McNaughton added: "Jamie Heaslip had a concussion but he is fine and ready to fly out. There is nothing else of concern to us at the moment."

The Ireland squad are departing from Dublin Airport on Tuesday afternoon and are set to arrive at their base in Queenstown on Thursday.