Ireland were last night resigned to being without the talisman of their pack for Saturday's Six Nations finale against Italy in Rome's Stadio Flaminio when Paul O'Connell was ruled out of the game because of a fractured thumb in his right hand.
He will see a specialist today to ascertain whether he needs surgery and the timespan for recovery, thereby also jeopardising the Munster captain's participation in their Heineken European Cup quarter-final away to Llanelli on March 30th.
With Malcolm O'Kelly also sidelined by a persistent groin problem, the likelihood is Mick O'Driscoll will be promoted to the starting line-up, with Leinster's Trevor Hogan called up to the replacements bench. Hogan was one of those named last night to supplement the squad, whose training session today has been cancelled. Also called up were Geordan Murphy, Rob Kearney, Barry Murphy, Tommy Bowe, Jamie Heaslip and Stephen Ferris.
Recalling O'Connell's absence from Ireland's dispiriting autumn 2005 performances, his tour de force against England and his all-action, leadership-from-the-front efforts in helping Ireland to struggle over the winning line in Scotland on Saturday, it is a desperately ill-timed blow.
Alarmingly, Brian O'Driscoll's shoulder - famously reconstructed after "Speargate" on the Lions tour of 2005 - was feeling "very sore" on Saturday night, according to Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan, but the expectation is he will take some part in training on Tuesday and will lead Ireland out for a record 37th time as captain in Rome.
The extent of Marcus Horan's groin problem will also be examined today and the hope is he will be recalled for the Italian job, while Isaac Boss's shoulder injury has again ruled him out of consideration.
It also transpired that Girvan Dempsey sustained a broken nose in a tackle, but he's a hardy sort.
"I suppose the only thing is his modelling career is over now," quipped O'Sullivan.
The news about O'Connell rather dampened the day's good news, namely a favour from our good neighbours England, who beat France 26-18 at Twickenham. Hence, the door to a first Six Nations title since 1995 hasn't been thrown wide open, but at least it is ajar.
Inspired by a reconstructed pack and a fresh flush of new young talents, notably in the shape of Newcastle's Toby Flood and his replacement, London Irish's Anglo-Irish outhalf Shane Geraghty, England ended France's hopes of le grand chelem with a thoroughly deserved, two tries to nil, victory.
The net effect is that France, Ireland and England head into next Saturday's final round of games level on six points, with France enjoying the better points difference, +42, to Ireland's +38 and England's +13.
Ireland though, have the disadvantage of kicking off first, at 2.30 local time (1.30 Irish) at Rome's Stadio Flaminio, to be followed by France, who entertain Scotland at 4.30 local time (3.30 Irish), with bottom-placed Wales at home to England in the evening kick-off.
In effect therefore, Ireland have to beat the Italians - who will be seeking a third successive win after Saturday's dramatic 23-20 win in Rome over Wales augmented their first Championship away win in Scotland a fortnight ago - by five points more than France's (expected) winning margin against Scotland to claim first place. Given Ireland also look to have the tougher, as well as earlier, assignment it is no wonder the bookies make France 7 to 1 on favourites to retain their title.
Presumably too, France will have a reaction to their strangely subdued effort yesterday. Mind you, a similar hope will apply to Ireland after their disappointingly anti-climactic efforts in finally beating Scotland.
Tens of thousands had invaded the Scottish capital, but perhaps in part because of the 1.30 kick-off and then the scrappy nature of the win, the Triple Crown celebrations were noticeably less euphoric and more dutiful than a year previously in Twickenham. Even the smiles looked forced. Granted, Ireland had come up with a magnificent try to beat England in the final game last year, but this Irish team had fallen well short of their own expectations on Saturday, and no one knew that better than themselves.
"I'm not saying this was one of the greatest Irish performances of all time, it wasn't," admitted O'Sullivan in Edinburgh yesterday morning before the team's return home. "There are things we've to work on. But they're very fixable. I think we played a lot of good rugby which will be forgotten about because the scoreline was so tight. We had a lot of line-breaks, but out discipline let us down and our finishing let us down.
"Normally that can lose you a game. The good thing was it didn't lose us the game. We kept our shape. You know when Scotland went five points up, there was a big question asked of the team and they came back and answered it. It wasn't pretty, but it was effective."
There could be no disputing that.
Ireland have always liked to play relatively flat, and so the Scots were quick to close the space down, but it was noticeable that when daringly and effectively running the ball from deep in the face of five- and two-point deficits in the last quarter they gave themselves more room, for fear of turning over the ball and to give themselves a kicking option. Surprisingly too, a little chip over the top or the often productive crosskick to Shane Horgan wasn't employed.
By far their main attacking gambit is to give the ball to one of the twinkletoed midfielders and see what they can do. The number of times Gordon D'Arcy or O'Driscoll manufactured clean breaks and eked yardage out of nothing remained remarkable, and they made Rob Dewey and Marcus Di Rollo look like defensive novices at times. Transfixed by their peerless footwork, the Scots defended David Wallace much better, tackling him hard and early to prevent him from getting any momentum in his legs.
Quite why Ireland don't make more of these midfield line-breaks is something of a mystery, but the backrowers are rarely in support à la Keith Gleeson at Leinster or, from fullback, Geordan Murphy, who runs superb "trailers".
The expectation is a 17,000-strong Green Army will invade the Eternal City next Saturday, but O'Sullivan warned it would be no St Patrick's Day parade for this Irish team.
"We've got our work cut out next Saturday, there's no question about that. They're on a roll now, they've got momentum. They will be very high after their two wins on the bounce. That'll certainly beef them up for next weekend. We're expecting another dogfight next weekend in Rome."
