Horgan loss is Henderson's gain

With little time for rest or respite in the brave new world of an abbreviated Six Nations, the Irish management just about had time to reflect on the events of last Sunday in Murrayfield and assess their walking wounded before announcing the 22-man squad for the game against Italy in the Stadio Flaminio next Saturday.

Following a scan yesterday, the unlucky Shane Horgan has been ruled out with what transpires is a pulled hamstring rather than a strained thigh, and so joins an expanded casualty list of nine frontline players who cannot be considered for either squad.

Pending the full results of the scan, it was not possible to establish the extent of Horgan's injury or an estimate as to how long he will be sidelined for.

In any event, Horgan's loss means a recall to the squad for the 21-times capped Lions centre Rob Henderson, which no less than Geordan Murphy's replacement of Horgan on Sunday or David Humphreys' performance in the absence of the injured Ronan O'Gara, underlines Ireland's unprecedented strength in depth.

Henderson has particularly happy memories of the Stadio Flaminio, having scored a hat-trick on Ireland's only previous visit to Rome in the championship, when winning there by 41-22 two years ago.

There was a positive updated medical bulletin on O'Gara however, with Eddie O'Sullivan glad to confirm that the outhalf is back in the squad for the Roman trip and "back in contention after we got the all-clear on him today."

Hence Paul Burke is rerouted to the A squad.

John Kelly has also been promoted to an expanded senior squad of 23, essentially as cover for Girvan Dempsey, who has a slight groin strain and will probably be unable to train over the next couple of days.

It is not expected that Dempsey will be ruled out, though were he to be then Murphy could switch to ful back and Kelly could come in on the wing.

A vacancy has been left in the A squad pending a decision on Dempsey and by extension Kelly, who could still be re-routed to the A squad as well.

James Topping and Bryn Cunningham, late call-ups to the A squad last week, retain their places.

It's a measure of the management's selectorial consistency that 13 of the senior squad were on duty against the Italians last year and a dozen were in Rome two seasons ago, with most of the exceptions being the result of injuries or, in the case of Peter Clohessy, retirement.

The starting line-ups and replacements for both the A game in Rovigo on Friday and Saturday's championship match will be named at lunchtime tomorrow.

• England boss Clive Woodward has admitted that injured forwards Jason Leonard (hamstring) and Lewis Moody (shoulder) are "very doubtful" for Saturday's game with Wales. Both were withdrawn during Saturday's win over France. Leicester's Graham Rowntree is expected to replace Leonard, with former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio taking over from Moody.