Woods, Tierney out of A squad

Although all bar two of the 23-man Irish squad were in action over the weekend, it appears that a relatively clean bill of health was reported to the team management when the squad assembled in Finnstown House last night in advance of next Saturday's concluding Five Nations encounter against Scotland in Edinburgh.

The notable injury casualties of the weekend instead affected the A squad. Both wing Niall Woods and the A replacement scrum-half Tom Tierney were last night forced to withdraw as a result of injuries sustained over the weekend.

Woods pulled a hamstring when setting up a 70th minute try in London Irish's defeat at Wasps yesterday, an ill-timed injury as representative opportunities are fast running out for the fringe contenders with an eye on the Australian tour this summer and next October's World Cup.

Pat Duignan has been promoted to the right-wing in place of Woods, with a decision on who will fill the Galwegians' player's position on the replacements' bench to be made today. Meanwhile Guy Easterby of London Scottish has been called onto the replacements panel in place of Tierney.

There is also some doubt over the availability of both Mervyn Murphy and Alan Quinlan, who were obliged to depart during the course of the Shannon-Galwegians match on Saturday. As regards the senior squad, only Rob Henderson (bronchitis) and Keith Wood (rested) missed club games over the weekend, and Henderson is expected to fully recover during the week. The one player who might cause the Irish management some concern is Andy Ward, who doesn't appear to have fully recovered from the knee injury he sustained in the European Cup final and which sidelined him from the French game. He was replaced ten minutes from time in Ballynahinch's Division Two defeat to DLSP. Of primary concern to Irish manager Donal Lenihan last night, however, was the players' state of mind. "The fellas know they let themselves down a bit against England and so it will be very interesting to see how they react during training this week. We'd expect a very positive reaction from the players and it's up to us to make sure that will happen."

In accordance with the practice of the season, the starting XV and replacements will be picked this evening and announced tomorrow. However, in a break with this season's custom, tomorrow's afternoon session will constitute the one "open" session and one "media day" of the week - a recognition perhaps that the players may have been distracted by their relative over-exposure in the week of the English game.

Meanwhile, England out-half Paul Grayson is set to miss the remaining Five Nations matches against France and Wales with an inflamed pubic bone. France were also hit by a defection as flanker Olivier Magne, who is still suffering from a foot injury, withdrew from their squad.