Rugby: Injury has ruled Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll and flanker Seán O'Brien out of the team to face England at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday (2.30pm) in the final warm-up game ahead of the Rugby World Cup.
The centre last weekend suffered a recurrence of the shoulder/neck injury that has hampered his summer thus far, meaning the defeat to France is his only competitive preparation for next month’s tournament in New Zealand.
“Brian picked up a knock against France. He’s running around outside, but it was prudent to us not to put him into a contact situation on Saturday,” said Kidney this afternoon. “He has made good progress, especially over the last 24 hours. With the game coming this week and a full tournament coming up, it just wasn’t prudent to put him in the mix.
“I don’t have the actual medical term for the injury. He gets stingers around this area (pointing to his shoulder). Sometimes you just need to rest it up and get them out of the system.”
It’s hardly an ideal state of affairs for the skipper or coach Declan Kidney, nor is the absence of O’Brien. The European Player of the Year sustained a "bit of a tear on one of the ligaments" in his his knee during the France game, but went on to score a try at the death as Ireland rallied. Again, Kidney insisted he is merely being rested.
“Seán will be fine, it wasn’t prudent to include him this weekend,” saidhte coach . “But as you can see he’s in training already and he’ll work his way back in. If he is injured and he is scoring tries at the end of the game we’ll take that wouldn’t we.”
He added: "It's not like he's laid up in bed or anything like that. It just goes with the territory in sport, unfortunately. He's not available for England and then we don't have another game for two weeks. We are hopeful he will be available for the America match (Septemeber 11th)."
Keith Earls will stand in for O'Driscol at outside centre, while Paul O'Connell will captain this side alongside Donncha O'Callaghan in the secondrow.
The good news is the return of Stephen Ferris, Tommy Bowe, David Wallace and Jerry Flannery, who all make their first starts of the summer.
Flannery has made three appearances from the bench this month having been a long-term absentess with a calf injury. His last Test start was against France in Paris in February 2010.
Having been sidelined by a persistent knee problem, Ferris will make his first start in eight months after a final-quarter cameo against France unscathed.
Geordan Murphy, who started and scored against Connacht, is named at fullback instead of Rob Kearney, who pulled up again this week after aggravating a troublesome groin injury.
"Rob was training fully on Monday and Tuesday, but then he pulled up a little bit sore," said Kidney. "It's just better to ease up on him for a couple of days. He will be fine again after this weekend. It's an opportunity to give Geordan a start in another game. At this stage it's all about looking at the part of the glass that is full in terms of giving lads game time."
England coach Martin Johnson has named a new-look midfield of Jonny Wilkinson, Mike Tindall and Manu Tuilagi.
Tuilagi made a try-scoring debut against Wales three weeks ago and returns to the team in place of Shontayne Hape, with Tindall moving to inside centre. Tindall, who continues as captain in the absence of Lewis Moody, will win his 72nd cap and draw level with Will Carling as England's most-capped centre.
The team features six changes from the 19-9 defeat to Wales in Cardiff and provides the strongest indication yet of Johnson's first choice World Cup side.
Wing Chris Ashton will make his first start of the warm-up campaign after overcoming a foot injury, joining Ben Foden and Mark Cueto in the back three.
Richard Wigglesworth starts again at scrum-half as Ben Youngs continues his recovery from a knee operation. Moody and Youngs were the only two not considered due to injury.
Steve Thompson continues at hooker alongside Andrew Sheridan, who will make his first appearance of the warm-up campaign after recovering from a shoulder operation, and Dan Cole.
Louis Deacon and Courtney Lawes pair up again in the second row, with James Haskell starting at openside flanker, where he played during England's RBS 6 Nations title-winning campaign.
Tom Croft returns at blindside flanker with Tom Wood moving to the bench and Nick Easter continues at number eight.
"We expect a hugely competitive game in Dublin and it gives us the ideal run-out before we depart for the World Cup," said Johnson. "These warm-up fixtures have been valuable in terms of our preparation for the World Cup, giving players game time together.
"We are pleased to see Andrew Sheridan back in the mix after working hard to get back to full fitness and he, along with Chris Ashton, will get his first start since meeting up in camp. Mike Tindall captains the side and, as he reaches another milestone in the game, he further demonstrates the level of quality and experience he brings to the side as a player and leader."
At the other end of the scale, Wasps scrumhalf Joe Simpson is set to make his Test debut off the bench after being included in England's 30-man World Cup squad.
Ireland (v England):G Murphy; T Bowe; K Earls; G D'Arcy; A Trimble; R O'Gara, E Reddan; C Healy, J Flannery, M Ross; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell; S Ferris, D Wallace, J Heaslip. Replacements: R Best, T Court, D Ryan, D Leamy, C Murray, J Sexton, F McFadden.
England (v Ireland):B Foden; C Ashton, M Tuilagi, M Tindall (capt), M Cueto; J Wilkinson, R Wigglesworth; A Sheridan, S Thompson, D Cole; L Deacon, C Lawes; T Croft, J Haskell, N Easter. Replacements: D Hartley, M Stevens, S Shaw, T Wood, J Simpson, T Flood, D Armitage.
