Cian Healy and Gordon D'Arcy joined their Irish teammates in New Zealand on Monday following their delayed departures for the World Cup due to injuries, team officials said.

Prop forward Healy suffered an eye injury during Ireland's final warm-up game against England, while centre D'Arcy strained a calf muscle.

"It was a strange feeling watching the lads meet up in Dublin airport and then waving goodbye to them," Healy said.

"But there was also a little sense of comfort for me knowing that I would at least be following them out a couple of days later.

"The injury has come on fine over the last couple of days and the medical team has been keeping a good watch over it, so I'm just really excited to be finally here and get the chance to get back on the field."

D'Arcy touched down with Healy in Queenstown and was keen to get going in the tournament.

"We flew in to a little less fanfare then the squad received, but that’s a small price to pay for just getting the chance to be here and start thinking about our first game," he said.

"There was a terrible sense of dread for me when the calf tightened up that morning and there was a couple of anxious hours before the scans came through and showed that it was not too bad and that it would not rule me out of the tournament.

"My focus now is to get it right and get on the field to put myself in contention for selection as soon as possible."

Ireland launch their World Cup campaign against the United States in New Plymouth on Sunday.

AFP