Rugby:The injury news just gets worse for the Ireland team ahead of the Six Nations after Jamie Heaslip and Tommy Bowe have both been ruled out of the opening game against Italy on Saturday week.

Heaslip had his ankle injury reviewed by a specialist today before it was confirmed by the IRFU that “he will not be available for selection for the Italy game”.

“Heaslip will continue his rehabilitation and has not been ruled out of contention for the France game at this point.”

Bowe has been carrying a knee injury which was reviewed by both the Ospreys and Ireland medical teams and respective specialist consultants.

The winger was deemed unfit to play against Italy. The Irish medical team will continue to liaise with the Ospreys to determine when he will be fit to return to play.

Ireland open their Six Nations campaign in Rome on Saturday week and coach Declan Kidney has seen a succession of front-liners fall by the wayside with Rob Kearney and Geordan Murphy both certain to miss the entire tournament.

They have been joined in recent days by John Hayes, Shane Horgan and Andrew Trimble. In addition, Stephen Ferris remains a concern with a knee problem while Jerry Flannery has yet to return to full training.

“You never like to see guys injured - we know how much playing for Ireland means to those guys,” said Kidney. “They’d be gutted were they to lose out at this stage of the season.

“But we’ve also tried to build a squad over the last few years and this will be the test of that. I have a huge belief in the way Irish rugby comes from the grass roots up. Of course there won’t be as much video analysis on the new guys so that will be an advantage.”