Irish abandon training session

It was not an ideal start yesterday for Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan or for Ireland's run-in to their opening game of the 2007 Six Nations Championship, when the Irish management cancelled the Ireland squad training session and announced that three players from the original selection were no longer available.

First-choice right-wing Shane Horgan (knee), Robert Kearney (hamstring strain) and John Kelly (ribs) have pulled out of contention for a place Ireland's opening game, against Wales at Millennium Stadium on February 4th, because of injury.

The trio have been replaced by the Galway-born and bred Connacht fullback Danny Riordan, Leinster back Kieran Lewis and Northampton's David Quinlan.

Horgan limped off in Leinster's game against Gloucester at Kingsholm last Friday night, with Kearney injuring his hamstring in the same match, while Kelly hurt his ribs in Munster's bruising encounter with Leicester at Thomond Park on Saturday.

In addition to those injury concerns, 15 other players were unable to train at the St Gerard's School grounds in north Wicklow because of minor injuries or having played in Sunday's final round of Heineken European Cup pool matches.

Included among the walking wounded with minor knocks were Munster's Barry Murphy, Peter Stringer, Mick O'Driscoll and David Wallace and Leinster inside centre Gordon D'Arcy.

In addition, Llanelli flanker Simon Easterby, Quinlan, Ulster's Neil Best, Rory Best, Simon Best, Bryan Young, Andrew Trimble, Tommy Bowe and Paddy Wallace all played on Sunday and were in rehab yesterday.

"The squad have picked up a couple of knocks at the weekend following the European Cup games and we also have to be mindful of players who have played yesterday.

"It was in the best interests of the players to prioritise rehab and recovery today to allow us to hit the ground running tomorrow," said O'Sullivan.

Horgan underwent surgery yesterday on his knee cartilage and the recovery period for his injury has been confirmed as somewhere between four and six weeks, while Leinster secondrow Malcolm O'Kelly, who came off in Leinster's game against Gloucester on Friday night with a recurrence of a previous knee problem, will be further assessed by the Irish medical team today.

The news adds to a difficult weekend in which all three Irish provinces lost just two weeks before the Six Nations begins.

But O'Sullivan has reorganised an Irish training session in Dublin today with most of the absentees likely to be available.

The last two qualifiers for the under-19 Rugby World Championships which will take place in Belfast from April 4th-21st have been confirmed and the finalised match schedule released.

Chinese Taipie, a member of the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARU), and the Cook Islands, a member of the Federation of Oceania Rugby Union (FORU), will join the 10 other nations in Division B.

Defending champions Australia will open their 2007 campaign against host nation Ireland at Ravenhill as part of a mouth-watering double-header on April 5th that sees second seeds and last year's beaten finalists New Zealand take on Wales.

Division A:Australia, New Zealand, England, France, Ireland, Wales, Argentina, South Africa, Scotland, Samoa, Japan, Fiji.

Division B:Romania, Tonga, Italy, Canada, Georgia, Uruguay, Chile, Russia, Zimbabwe, Chinese Tapei, Cook Islands, USA.