TWO players who had been chosen on the A side to meet the French at Donnybrook tomorrow out-half David Humphreys (London Irish) and prop Paul Flavin (Blackrock College) will now sit on the Ireland replacement bench for the International Championship match against France at Lansdowne Road on Saturday.

Humphreys takes over from Paul Burke (Bristol), who had been the nominated out-half replacement but was forced to withdraw because of a knee injury, while Flavin comes in for Gary Halpin (London Irish), who is also ruled out by a knee injury.

Alan McGowan (Blackrock College) will step in for Humphreys at out-half in the A side, while Flavin's loose-head prop berth on the team goes to Henry Hurley (Moseley).

McGowan was capped at senior level against the USA in 1994 and played for Ireland A in 1994 and 1995. Hurley has been capped at senior level twice and is a contracted player with the Ireland squad. Hurley's place on the A team bench will be taken by Gary Leslie (Dungnnon).

Another former international, Ciaran Clarke (Terenure College), will play at full back on the Ireland A side. He comes in for Jim Staples who withdrew from the team because of a recurrence of a jaw injury. Jan Cunningham (Dublin University) has been called into the A team replacements in place of Simon Mason.

The Ireland squad continued their preparations at the University of Limerick grounds yesterday under coaching adviser Brian Ashton and the squad members have been impressed greatly by his approach. "It has been like a breath of fresh air," was the assessment of one.

There was some good news, too, in relation to Stephen McIvor, who is the reserve scrum-half on Saturday. He passed a fitness test yesterday on the achilles tendon injury which had restricted his training earlier in the week.

The members of the A team in the national squad travelled to Dublin yesterday and trained with the A side's deputy coach Dave Haslett at Lansdowne Road in the afternoon.