RUGBY/News: Denis Hickie remains confident his latest back spasm will not prevent him from playing against France tomorrow. However, the Irish management still called up Tyrone Howe from the A squad as a precautionary measure.

Hickie has been troubled with back spasms before but they usually clear up as quickly as they occur, and the squad's press officer John Redmond ventured: "The management are quite happy that Denis will be fit to play, but the sensible thing to do is to call up another player as a precaution rather than risk being caught at the eleventh hour."

The squad are almost an hour north of Paris, in a five-star hotel. They trained yesterday on a nearby football pitch at Creil.

The word from the French yesterday was that their captain Fabien Galthie and winger David Bory would be fit to play, although a doubt has emerged about the participation of New Zealand-born centre Tony Marsh due to a calf strain.

Meanwhile, the Ireland Students will be chasing a Grand Slam of their own - they don't play Italy at this level - having already won the Triple Crown. It is a strong team despite injury setbacks (they lost their captain and outhalf Shane Moore; Mark McHugh deputises), particularly up front, where much will be expected of the pack.

IRELAND STUDENTS: D O'Sullivan (UCD); S Coulter (UUJ), K Lewis (DU), D Quinlan (Cambridge), S Keogh (UCD); M McHugh (UCD), E Reddan (UL); R McCormack (Athlone IT), J Flannery (UCC), P Bracken (Athlone IT); D O'Callaghan (UCC), T Hayes (Limerick IT); A McCullen (DU, capt), D Dillon (UCD), R Woods (DU). Replacements: J Fogarty (UCC), A O'Brien (Cambridge), T Hogan (DU), A Hughes (QUB), I Humphreys (UUJ), S Mallon (QUB), T Robinson (Shannon Hotel Catering and Management).