RUGBY:THE REPORT on French television station Canal+ may have been premature, but Tomás O'Leary could well be confirmed as Perpignan's new signing in the next 48 hours.

Naturally, Peter Stringer will be the most interested to see if he stays or goes.

O’Leary has two contracts in front of him to chose from – one from Munster (not centrally paid for by the IRFU) and another from the Catalan club, where Welsh player James Hook signed last summer.

Both are two-year deals, with Perpignan believed to be offering a better financial package, but the 28-year-old may be influenced by the union not renewing his centrally-contracted deal.

The last of O’Leary’s 22 caps for Ireland came in the defeat to France last August. He was subsequently a surprise omission from the World Cup squad as Declan Kidney preferred Leinster’s New Zealand-born Isaac Boss as third-choice scrumhalf.

This was the culmination of a nightmarish two years for the former Cork minor hurler having been plagued by ankle (ruling him out of the 2009 Lions tour), thumb, back and a freak eye injury. He also lost his provincial place to Conor Murray, the incumbent Ireland scrumhalf.

With Murray not released by Kidney, O’Leary produced a typically physical performance in Munster’s 35-14 victory away to Treviso on Saturday before Duncan Williams replaced him on 56 minutes.

“Tomás has not signed any contract yet – he’ll make a decision this week,” said agent Niall Woods, who also manages Williams and Isa Nacewa among others in his Navy Blue consultation group.

On the issue of tax breaks for Irish professional sports people, O’Leary can pick his highest earnings from 10 years playing in Ireland. He has been fully contracted by Munster for seven years.

Stringer’s short-term loan deal with Saracens ends on March 4th. He was not part of yesterday’s match-day squad against Geordan Murphy’s Leicester Tigers as Neil de Kock is fit again, but he could feature in coming fixtures against Worcester or Northampton. His Munster contract is up this summer so a new deal may be dictated by O’Leary moving to France.

“Saracens are very pleased with the job Peter has done, especially guiding their young scrumhalf (Ben) Spencer but their two injured nines are back again and that was the deal,” said his agent John Baker yesterday. “His Munster contract is up in June. There has been no new offer from them as yet.”

Stringer will be 35 in December but as Baker added: “He has never sustained a serious injury, nor does he smoke or drink alcohol, and we do have other clubs interested.”

Meanwhile, there are no serious injuries concerns from the Ireland camp that gathered in Carton House last night. Ronan O’Gara’s man-of-the-match performance for Munster against Treviso in Italy on Saturday lasted 75 minutes, while Donncha O’Callaghan put in a 68-minute shift. Donncha Ryan and Peter O’Mahony, both expected to make the bench against Italy this Saturday, played the entire game.

The most encouraging sight, however, was that of Felix Jones’s return after six months sidelined with a foot injury sustained on the eve of the World Cup.

Kidney is not expected to make any significant changes from the line-up that lost to Wales, when the team is announced at lunch time tomorrow.

Italy are without their Leicester tighthead prop Martin Castrogiovanni for the remainder of the Six Nations as he sustained cracked ribs against England.

Otherwise, Jacques Brunel’s squad come to Dublin at full strength.