Ronan O'Gara last night remained Ireland's biggest concern in advance of next Saturday's Six Nations' opener away to England and accordingly Eric Elwood has been called up from the A team to the Test squad as cover for the injured Cork Con out-half.
"Ronan O'Gara is our biggest question mark," admitted Irish manager Donal Lenihan from the team's base in the Glenview Hotel. "He has a medial ligament injury and some players recover quicker than others from that injury. We'll make a decision on him tomorrow (Monday) and unless he's 100 per cent fit he's not going to do himself any favours. We have to be fair to him and to the team."
Lenihan was also concerned about the elbow injury which prevented Jeremy Davidson from playing for his club Castres over the weekend although the presence of four locks in the 23-man squad curtailed the need for any late call-ups as cover.
Further down the representative pecking order, an ankle injury to Peter McKenna has cast a doubt over his projected debut for the A side against their English counterparts next Friday night in Northampton while there is also a doubt concerning the chosen Irish under-21 fullback Gordon D'Arcy.
"We haven't heard from either player yet and those squads don't assemble until Tuesday, so until such time as we do we have no reason to make alternate arrangements," said Lenihan. On top of which potential alternatives to McKenna, namely Geordan Murphy and Jonathan Bell, also received knocks over the weekend which have still to be fully assessed.
London Irish inflicted Leicester's worst defeat in the history of cup and league when they trounced the Allied Dunbar champions 47-7 in the English Cup at the Stoop on Saturday.
Irish used their forward platform to attack Leicester from all parts of the field. Their back row, particularly the South African Jake Boer, were outstanding and Conor O'Shea on this form looks the best attacking full-back in Britain. England beware.
Ireland under-21 scrum-half Kieran Campbell, playing on the wing, helped himself to two tries while out-half Jarrod Cunningham gave a faultless kicking is play, landing nine goals from nine attempts.
