Alan Quinlan and Luke Fitzgerald have been ruled out of Ireland's Test match with Australia in Melbourne on Saturday after failing to recover from injuries that saw them miss the defeat to New Zealand in Wellington.
Quinlan has failed to shake off the dead leg he suffered in Munster's European Cup final win over Toulouse, while Fitzgerald has not recovered from the ankle injury that saw him replaced by Paddy Wallace for last Saturday's Test at the Westpac Stadium.
Interim coach Michael Bradley will not be calling up any cover for the latter but Ulster backrow Stephen Ferris has already been ushered in as cover for Quinlan.
Despite heading into the 53rd week of a gruelling season on the back of an energy sapping defeat in Wellington, optimism remains within the Ireland camp that it can all end on a high under the roof of the Telstra Dome on Saturday.
Ireland take on Australia a week after their 21-11 loss at the hand of the All Blacks in what will be Wallabies coach Robbie Deans' first game in charge.
Munster prop Tony Buckley insists the team are still hungry and each individual is ready to correct the mistake that saw them fall short at the Westpac Stadium.
The 6ft 5in prop, who came on as a replacement for Marcus Horan in the 61st minute, admitted he and his team-mates were "gutted" after throwing away a golden opportunity to beat New Zealand.
"We came within 10 points of a New Zealand team that we could have beaten," the 27-year-old said. "We came so close. There were a few minor errors that cost us big time.
"We should have been much closer. I felt we were unlucky on the night. We will be looking at capitalising on those situations against Australia. Everybody will be looking to fix their mistakes... to build on what they did last weekend.
"Against Australia we really have to win, we'll be more hungry for the victory," he said. "It's their first game together under a new coaching staff and hopefully we can get them this time.
"It's even bigger (than New Zealand)," he said. "We just want to come away from the tour with a win. We were confident of pushing New Zealand. The ball was in our court, we could have - and should have - won it but we didn't. Hopefully against Australia now we can win it."
"We'll need to tighten up a little. There was one or two little breaches but on a normal day that wouldn't have happened. We were very good in and around the ruck, drove the All Blacks back a bit. We were quite strong in that area."
Buckley has played down the involvement of former Munster coach Jim Williams on the Wallabies coaching ticket.
"It'll only go so far," he said. "It's going to be one of those things about getting the basics right and making sure you can win your set-pieces and making sure you get over your advantage line.
"It's all going to come down to that. Realistically (working at Munster is) not going to count for too much."
Deans sees Williams' presence as a double edged sword. "Jim has got a really important role. He's overseeing the coming together of the pack (and) I guess he's got an insight into Munster.
"Jim will draw on his knowledge just as they will draw on their knowledge of Jim."
