Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii’s hopes of finishing his first Wallabies tour with a flourish against Ireland are still alive after a more positive update on the injury he suffered against Scotland.
The code-hopping superstar avoided breaking his right arm in the bone-shuddering hit he put on fellow Aussie Sione Tuipulotu, Scotland’s captain, in the first half of the Wallabies’ defeat at Murrayfield, and the pain of the knock is subsiding.
"After making a tackle yesterday, Joseph Suaalii lost function and had severe pain in his right arm and was substituted," a team statement from Dublin said.
"Since full time and after travelling with the team to Ireland, his function is returning, and pain is subsiding.
"He was medically reviewed post-game and there is no evidence of a fracture and will be monitored throughout the week."
Of course, there’s no question that coach Joe Schmidt would risk playing Rugby Australia’s $5 million man if there is any possibility of causing any serious long-term damage in the tour finale at Lansdowne Road on Saturday (Sunday AEDT), so his chances may still be slim with such a short turnaround between Tests.
But after initial reports the 21-year-old had suffered a broken wrist at Murrayfield, an outcome that could have kept his rugby education on ice for another two months, this counted as a real boost following the deflation of the end of their "grand slam'' hopes in Edinburgh with the 27-13 defeat.
NRL convert Suaalii had begun the tour in spectacular fashion, starting at outside centre in the thrilling win over England and annexing the man-of-the-match award in his first game of rugby since he was a schoolboy.
He then enjoyed a late cameo off the bench in the hammering of Wales, before making a promising start for half an hour against the Scots with a couple of good runs, causing another touch of aerial mayhem at a restart and defending fairly stoutly.
The thunderous tackle that sent Tuipulotu flying caused the problem, and also led to the pair exchanging angry words, before Suaalii had to come straight off and never returned as he nursed a numb arm.
There was some more good news for the tourists as lock Jeremy Williams, who had been ruled out of Scotland match on the morning of the Test with illness, was reported to be "recovering positively" in the Irish capital.
As their bruised squad began their tough six-day turnaround before the showpiece fixture against Schmidt's former charges, Ireland, senior player Allan Alaalatoa revealed the depth of their disappointment at how their crack at becoming the first Wallabies side in 40 years to do the British Isles sweep had crumbled.
"The feeling in there was tough, like no one said a word," said the prop, who captained the side in the win over Wales.
"You could see the body language of the boys straight after the game because there had been real belief that we could win the grand slam, and that came through the way that we'd prepared throughout the whole year, and the way that the whole squad has contributed.
"So that's footy, and it wasn't our night, but we can't be holding on to that game, we've got to be able to push forward against Ireland.
"It's very important to finish strongly as they've been either No.1 or No.2 in the world for a while now.
"To come away with three wins to one loss would be awesome for our group."
