SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP:ROB KEARNEY underwent an arthroscopy on his damaged knee first thing yesterday morning to ascertain whether the joint is healing as anticipated. The Ireland and Leinster fullback had keyhole surgery and a more definitive dateline on his return to competitive fare will be available later in the week.

The Ireland team management had been hoping the 24-year-old might be available for selection prior to the end of the Six Nations Championship. An IRFU spokesperson confirmed: “The procedure was a scheduled one to check the injury was healing correctly, and all the indications are that it is doing so.”

Earlier in the week the suggestion from Leinster was that the player was not expected to be available for selection until the end of next month, offering a rough estimate he might be available for the province’s Magners League game against the Newport Gwent Dragons on March 27th.

That would leave Kearney with plenty of time to stake a claim for a place in Leinster’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against the Leicester Tigers at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, April 9th.

Ireland’s final game in the Six Nations Championship is against England in Dublin on Saturday, March 19th, possibly an unrealistic target based on first the rehabilitation process and then the valuable commodity of game time.

Declan Kidney’s team play Scotland on Sunday week, Wales on Saturday, March 12th before completing the competition against the English. Kearney hasn’t played since damaging his knee against New Zealand during the November Test series and to further compound what has been a frustrating period for the talented fullback is that his contract talks, ongoing for four months now with the IRFU – he’s a free agent this summer – show no sign of being resolved.

Meanwhile, Irish referee George Clancy will referee the Six Nations Championship clash between England and France at Twickenham on Saturday week after New Zealand-born Steve Walsh was forced to withdraw with a knee ligament injury. Clancy will be taking charge of his 16th match since making his international debut in 2006.

Clancy, who took charge of Wales’ win over Scotland last weekend, will step in after the colourful and controversial Walsh – attached to the Australian rugby union (ARU) – cried off.

Barring any setbacks, Walsh will replace Ireland’s Alain Rolland for the Scotland v Italy fixture at Murrayfield on March 19th.