Rugby World Cup: Joey Carbery questioned his own fitness after ankle injury

Carbery is expected to take a place on the bench as Johnny Sexton's deputy in Ireland's World Cup opener against Scotland

Ireland's Joey Carbery admits that he had concerns over his World Cup fitness following his ankle injury against Italy on 10 August.

The fly-half is available for Ireland's Pool A opener against Scotland on Sunday, where he is likely to deputise for Johnny Sexton.

Carbery resumed training this week but says "there were a couple of days" when he wondered whether he would be fit

"There are a lot of long days but it is worth it all in the end," said Carbery.

"Within myself I was kind of like 'will it be ready?'"

Carbery was forced off in Ireland's opening World Cup warm-up fixture against Italy

The 23-year-old was a doubt for the Scotland game along with Keith Earls and Rob Kearney, but the trio were made available for selection after overcoming injuries.

Carbery, who moved from Leinster to Munster in pursuit of more game-time at fly-half, is expected to play a significant role in Ireland's campaign in Japan, as chief support to 2018 world player of the year Sexton.

However the fact that Carbery has returned to training less than a week before their tournament begins presents head coach Joe Schmidt with a selection dilemma before announcing his team at 07:00 BST on Friday.

Connacht's Jack Carty is also in the frame for the replacement fly-half berth having impressed in the warm-up fixtures.

Training ramps up a gear before crunch Pool A meeting

Ireland arrived in Yokohama on Wednesday, four days before taking on Scotland in the venue that will host the tournament's final on 2 November.

While Sunday's winners will be optimistic of booking a place in the quarter-finals, the defeated side will play their three remaining Pool A fixtures knowing that another loss will end their last eight ambitions.

Ireland, whose form improved over the course of their four warm-up games, rose to number one in the world rankings following their victory over Wales in their final preparation match.

"The buzz around the camp this week has been insane and lads are just bouncing off each other," said Carbery.

"It's not every year that the first four games of the year are Test matches.

"So if we tap into that pre-season, hopefully that will stand to us."

Ireland face hosts Japan six days after their opener against Scotland, before meeting Russia and Samoa later in the campaign.