Surprises unlikely in Irish squad to face

The Irish management will gather this afternoon to select both the 22man senior squad for the Five Nations' opener against France on Saturday week, and the squad for the A international against the same opposition.

The two squads may not be announced until tomorrow and the management may finalise the A starting XV and replacements also. There are no injury concerns after last weekend's games; with both Eric Miller and Rob Henderson expected to recover from the knee injuries which ruled them out of their clubs' respective matches.

Warren Gatland travelled to France to watch Jeremy Davidson play for Castres, while assistant coach Philip Danaher viewed Guy Easterby playing for London Scottish and manager Donal Lenihan observed the Cork Con-Galwegians game, presumably to keep a watching brief on Eric Elwood.

The squad is unlikely to contain any surprises, and will be drawn from the 26 at the squad get-together in Galway last week. The main source of discussion could be who to pick alongside Conor McGuinness as the second scrumhalf.

Danaher's attendance at the London Scottish game suggests the management may be thinking of promoting the more experienced Easterby above Ciaran Scally, rather than risk putting the latter on the bench after being exposed to relatively little representative rugby this season. Alternatively, they could have another look at Easterby in what may be a relatively adventurous and youthful A selection, which in turn has to be balanced with the needs of a promising-looking under21 team.

Beyond that, one presumes the squad pretty much picks itself and could fall along the following lines: O'Shea, Bishop, Maggs, Bell, Henderson, Dempsey, Humphreys, Elwood, McGuinness, Easterby, Clohessy, Fitzpatrick, Wood, Nesdale, Wallace, Johns, O'Kelly, Davidson, O'Cuinneagain, Miller, Costello, Ward.

Meanwhile, due to the increasing backlog of fixtures in the AIB League, the scheduled dates for the semi-finals and final have been put back by one week and will now take place on April 24th and 25th with the final on May 1st.

English Premiership leaders Leicester will make a late decision on flanker Neil Back's recovery from flu before naming the team to play Richmond at the Madejski Stadium today. Will Johnson stands by to deputise for the creative Back, who missed Saturday's win over Gloucester.

Leicester coach Dean Richards is concerned about his team's phobia of away midweek matches. "We have lost on all five of our most recent night trips," said Richards.

"We cannot afford another slipup, otherwise we will have lost our one-match advantage on Northampton, who have the same points as us at the top of the table."