Rugby:The one positive to emerge from yesterday's deflating last-minute Six Nations defeat to Wales at the Aviva Stadium is that Ireland coach Declan Kidney has no injury worries ahead of the trip to face France on Saturday evening, meaning only Keith Earls will join up with the squad before it departs for Paris.
With just a six-day turnaround, it is some consolation for the coach, who has chosen to release Shane Jennings and Denis Hurley back to their provinces and resisted calling anyone else up after Ireland were beaten by a Leigh Halfpenny penalty in the dying seconds.
Earls will return to the Ireland camp at Carton House tomorrow, having initially been named in the team to face Wales, only to pull out when his newborn daughter was taken ill. The Munster back will therefore be in contention to reclaim the number 13 jersey worn by late replacement Fergus McFadden yesterday.
Kidney will name his matchday squad on Thursday afternoon, before the squad travels to Paris on Friday morning.
Wales lock Bradley Davies is likely to be cited for his reckless tip-tackle on Ireland's replacement lock Donnacha Ryan, that saw the Welshman given a yellow card when it undoubtedly should have been red.
Match citing commissioner, Italian Achille Reali, has until 5pm tomorrow to decide on any citing, which would then mean a Six Nations disciplinary panel convening, probably in London on Wednesday.
Wales coach Warren Gatland admitted Davies was fortunate not to be sent off by referee Wayne Barnes and a lengthy ban - one that could easily sideline him for the remainder of this season’s tournament - appears likely.
France coach Phillipe Saint-Andre, meanwhile, wasted little time in naming his squad for Saturday night’s date with Ireland at the Stade de France, retaining the entire group that opened their campaign with a 30-12 win over Italy.
Having reviewed the performance in its entirety twice on Saturday night, Saint-Andre will stick with the same personnel but is demanding more physicality against the Irish. “We lack that ferocity, that desire to go forward," Saint-Andre explained “When we upped the pace, we were better in attack and in defence. We cannot let the Irish play like they want because they will score when they have the opportunity.
“We will have to take them by the throat."
Saint-Andre indicated there would be changes to the starting line-up but thought there was much to build on.
"I'm not depressed. We won. We scored four halfback tries," he added. "We were not dominated, we defended very well, we were disciplined. There is a lot to take into the next games. We must be more precise. Our defence is very well organised but we lacked aggressiveness. We should have deprived them of space. We lacked consistency in terms of gaining possession and we need to improve our lineouts, which were not great at all."
Saint-Andre will name his team tomorrow morning.
France squad:David Attoub, Vincent Debaty, Nicolas Mas, Jean-Baptiste Poux, William Servat, Dimitri Szarzewski, Pascal Pape, Yoann Maestri, Lionel Nallet, Julien Bonnaire, Thierry Dusautoir (captain), Louis Picamoles, Imanol Harinordoquy. Morgan Parra, Dimitri Yachvili, Francois Trinh-Duc, Lionel Beauxis, Aurelien Rougerie, Maxime Mermoz, Wesley Fofana, Vincent Clerc, Julien Malzieu, Maxime Medard.
