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Warren Gatland insists there is no serious problem with Sam Warburton despite the Wales skipper sitting out this Saturday’s second World Cup warm-up match against Ireland with a shoulder injury.

Warburton will miss the Dublin clash due to a pinched nerve, but Gatland says he could have played and that resting him is just a precaution, with Justin Tipuric starting on the openside flank.

Video: Warren Gatland on Tomas Francis

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“Sam has just got a little knock on the shoulder, which is kind of like a pinched nerve,” said the Kiwi coach.

“It’s nothing serious. We could have played him this weekend, but we are just giving him a couple more days rest. We are just making sure he is 100 per cent right.”

Meanwhile, Wales will continue to assess the condition of outside-half Gareth Anscombe, who is a World Cup doubt after picking up an injury in training.

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“He just rolled his ankle last week, so he’s in a boot at the moment,” said Gatland.

“He is being treated and we are assessing him daily. The medics have said it’s probably going to keep him out for a week or two, so we just need to see how the weekend goes and keep assessing him in terms of make the final selection.”

There’s encouraging news on tight-head prop Samson Lee, who is making good progress in his recovery from the ruptured Achilles tendon he suffered in March.

“Samson is up and running,” said Gatland.

“He did some live scrummaging this week. He’s in good shape and we expect him to be fully fit. He’s not too far away. It’s nice to have players coming back into fitness.”

Gatland is also very upbeat about George North who will make his comeback against Ireland on Saturday, having not played since March after a series of concussions.

“I have no doubt he will be up to speed and with the rest and the protocols we have done the concussion issues he had shouldn’t be a problem,” said the Kiwi coach.

“We’ve had two pretty full-on hit-ups. One was in North Wales and one was during the week against the Ospreys.”