Stringer faces anxious wait

Ireland will have to wait until Thursday to find out whether Peter Stringer will play a part in the historic Six Nations game against England in Croke Park after the Munster man was left out of the starting line-up for the third game of the campaign.

Stringer was forced to miss the defeat to France after fracturing a bone in his hand against Wales and, while Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan remains confident the prognosis is good, the scrumhalf faces an anxious wait on the all clear.

Isaac Boss will ably deputise if Stringer is out and Eoin Reddan will make the bench, but the Corkman's quick delivery will certainly be missed should he fail to prove his fitness.

"The progress has slowed down this week, which was a bit of a concern earlier in the week, but he had a pretty tough workout yesterday and hasn't had any adverse reaction to it, so that's been encouraging," said O'Sullivan today.

Yesterday's workout, though, was non-contact and there doubts persist over how the injury will respond in a tackle, or at the wrong end of a ruck.

Geordan Murphy's omission from the matchday squad, admitted O'Sullivan, will come as a surprise to some but had captain Brian O'Driscoll been fit for France the Leicester player was likely to be out of the reckoning then also.  As it happened, O'Driscoll was injured and Murphy was the most suitable to cover Shane Horgan's move to the centre.

"The exclusion of Geordan will be an issue for some, but with Brian back and Shane on the wing there was always going to be a scramble for the utility position on bench," said the coach. "I don't think he is firing on all cylinders himself, Geordan, and I think Andrew has come back stronger.  It's a tight call."

So tight, one feels, that it could well have been decided by Murphy's missed tackle on Raphael Ibanez that led to France's first try 10 days ago.

Murphy's absence left a question mark over cover for fullback Girvan Dempsey, but that will come in the shape of inside centre Gordon D'Arcy if needs be

There were close calls in the pack, most notably whether to start with Simon Easterby or Neil Best at wing forward.  Easterby, as has been the case in the first two games, won out, but there are no fears for the coach if Best is needed.

"He (Best) did a good job when he came on, but you have got to weigh it up to the job that Simon did before he went off," said O'Sullivan. "There wasn't really any issue there. I'm happy that there was no real compelling reason to change the pack based on the last performance."

As expected there were no side effects for Ronan O'Gara since the outhalf suffered a swollen ankle in aftermath of the French defeat.

Ireland's top points scorer, who has two tries to his name in the competition this year, is a great admirer of English counterpart Jonny Wilkinson, who he first saw close up on the 2001Lions Tour.

Wilkinson's return to the squad is not a surprise to the Munster playmaker. "He's a fine player," said O'Gara. "I think it's a great  tribute to him that he's come back on top of his game and he's obviously done an awful lot of work on the training field and you can see that in his game.  It's as you were with Jonny."

Ireland  (v England):G Dempsey (Leinster); S Horgan (Leinster), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), G D'Arcy (Leinster), D Hickie (Leinster); R O'Gara (Munster), P Stringer (Munster) or I Boss (Ulster); M Horan (Munster), R Best (Ulster), J Hayes (Munster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), P O'Connell (Munster), S Easterby (Llanelli Scarlets), D Wallace (Munster), D Leamy (Munster).

Replacements: J Flannery (Munster), S Best (Ulster), N Best (Ulster), M O'Driscoll (Munster), I Boss (Ulster) or E Reddan (Wasps), P Wallace (Ulster), A Trimble (Ulster).