WALES are sweating on the fitness of key lock Luke Charteris, who damaged a shoulder late in the first half of Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final firecracker against Ireland.

The Newport Gwent Dragons forward fell heavily on his shoulder soon before half-time and could not return for the second half, when he was replaced by Bradley Davies.

"Luke was in a lot of pain and he didn’t have much strength in the arm so the call was to bring on Bradley Davies," said Gatland. "We will assess Luke over the next 24 hours or so and hopefully it won’t be too serious.

"Luke has been outstanding and his work rate and tackle count against Ireland was absolutely phenomenal (he made 24 tackles in the first half alone)."

Charteris is the latest of a number of players who have suffered injury scares during the World Cup, only to recover in time to avoid being sent home and a replacement flown out.

The worst case was Charteris’ Dragons teammate Dan Lydiate, who was almost on the plane home after injuring ankle ligaments against Samoa in the first ten minutes of the second game.

But a stirring battle to regain fitness, icing the ankle every two hours including through the night, ultimately paid dividends and he was rewarded by regaining his place against the Irish, where he was outstanding.

Also sidelined during the tournament have been James Hook and Shane Williams with shoulder and thigh injuries respectively, but they both recovered.

The problem with having Charteris sidelined is that there are only three specialist locks in the 30-strong World Cup squad. If any one of them went down then Ryan Jones, a No 8 but who has played at lock, would have to fill in there until any replacement arrived.

But it is hoped Charteris will make a full recovery in time for the World Cup semi-final against France.

He has been a revelation during the World Cup with his dynamic all-round form,and Warren Gatland now calls him his No 1 lock. It isn’t hard to see why.