Ferris ruled out of encounter with Italy

Stephen Ferris has been confirmed as unfit for selection for Ireland's opening game of the RBS 6 Nations Championship against Italy following a consultation with a knee specialist.

 Ferris picked up a cartilage injury to his right knee during the Ulster Heineken Cup game against Aironi and was unable to train with the Ireland squad last week during the Limerick camp.

 The knee did not respond to the rest period and Ferris was referred to the knee specialist, who confirmed yesterday evening that while the injury did not require surgery he would not be available for the Italy game.

Ferris will continue with his rehabilitation and while there remains a doubt regarding his availability for the France game, he has not been ruled out of a return to play in time for selection.

Scotland A 32-13 Ireland Wolfhounds

The Ireland Wolfhounds were beaten 32-13 by Scotland A at Netherdale on Friday night, after turning around at the break with a 13-9 lead.

A try by Ireland Wolfhounds debutant Willie Faloon and a conversion and two penalties by Ian Humphreys were the only scores Eric Elwood's men could muster as they went down 32-13.

Scotland A changed their tactics in the second half and in Elwood's words, they attacked the Wolfhounds 'close to the ruck'.

 The consequence was two tries for the Scots from Moray Low and Hefin O'Hare. Scotland out-half David Blair led the scoring with a goal-kicking haul of 19 points - hitting five penalty goals and two conversions.

 The Wolfhounds had looked full of rugby in the first half, much the sharper with ball-in-hand and the more aggressive at the ruck.

 By contrast, Scotland A struggled to make headway with their backline attacks and up front they were frequently on the back foot.

 However, coming into the second half, the Scots changed their tactics with devastating results as Elwood admitted afterwards. He said: 'They attacked us close to the ruck and dominated possession. We simply didn't have much ball and could do very little.

Bowe also doubtful for France tie

Tommy Bowe is a major doubt for Ireland's second RBS 6 Nations fixture against France, according to his club the Ospreys.
 Bowe was last night ruled out of the tournament opener against Italy at Stadio Flaminio on Saturday week with no date set for his return.
 

But any hope the 26-year-old Lions winger will be fit to face France a week later faded today following an update from the Ospreys' head physio Chris Towers.
 'We're continuing to liaise with the Irish medical team regarding Tommy's condition and the management of his injury,' said Towers.
 'We've taken the decision to continue to offload him, allowing the knee to settle further, and at this stage remain optimistic that the problem will resolve in the short term.

We are hopeful that in a couple of weeks, if he continues to improve as he is, he will be able to get back into some rugby specific training without any reaction or ill effect.'The signs are encouraging at this stage, but it is clear that it will be another couple of weeks before we can confirm whether or not this problem will impact on more than just the first couple of Six Nations fixtures.' Ireland's preparations for the Six Nations have been hit by an injury crisis that has robbed them of eight players capable of featuring in the matchday 22.
 Head coach Declan Kidney can ill-afford to lose such an effective player as Bowe for the first two games of the championship, especially with three of his potential replacements - Shane Horgan, Geordan Murphy and Andrew Trimble - also injured.

Rautenbach banned for Wallace incident

London Irish prop Faan Rautenbach has been given a three-week ban for stamping on the head and shoulder of Munster flanker David Wallace.

Rautenbach was yellow-carded following the incident during Munster's victory in the teams' Heineken Cup clash in Limerick last Saturday.

The subsequent citing was upheld with an initial suspension of five weeks reduced by two weeks by an independent disciplinary hearing because of mitigating factors.

Rautenbach is free to play from Friday, 18 February.

Munster's Amlin Cup details revealed

Munster's clash with Brive in the European Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals will take place at the Stadium Municipal Amédée-Domenech.

The match will kick-off at 2pm on Saturday, 9 April. The stadium's capacity is 15,000.

Munster were knocked out of the Heineken Cup after failing to secure one of the best runner-up spots in the group stages.

Ireland name RBS Women's 6 Nations squad

Ireland coach Philip Doyle has named his squad of 25 players for the forthcoming RBS Women's 6 Nations Championship.

Doyle has included a number of seasoned internationals alongside some new faces who have emerged this season.

Fiona Coghlan will captain the side for her second season.

Ireland open their campaign with a fixture away to Italy in Rovigo, on Sunday 6 February and will again make Ashbourne RFC in Meath their home for the tournament.
 Speaking of his selection Doyle said: 'The dedication of the players has been excellent, both in their individual attention and motivation and as a squad.'

'We recognise the potential of the squad while respecting the challenges ahead, the first of which is to start the Six Nations campaign against Italy away with a good performance.

'Being the first game of the championship means we have little knowledge of the opposition so our concentration is to be accurate as possible throughout the game with and without the ball.'

Ireland squad for the RBS Women's 6 Nations Championship:
Gillian Bourke, Niamh Briggs, Lynne Cantwell, Fiona Coghlan,
Amy Davis, Lauren Day, Ailis Egan, Siobhan Fleming, Laura Guest,
Ashling Hutchings, Niamh Kavanagh, Mairead Kelly, Stacey Kennedy, Emer McManamly, Claire Molloy, Larissa Muldoon, Joy Neville, Gill Nolan, Deirdre O'Brien, Heather O'Brien, Geraldine Rea, Marie Louise Reilly, Jackie Shiels, Nora Stapleton, Carol Staunton

Ireland Wolfhounds team named to face Scotland

The O2 Ireland Wolfhounds team to play Scotland 'A' in Netherdale this Friday, January 28th (KO: 7.30pm) has been named. 

The team will be coached by Eric Elwood and Anthony Foley with Chris Henry named as captain.

Gavin Duffy moves from the Senior squad to the Wolfhounds and will start at fullback while Leinster's Fergus McFadden has been called into the senior squad as cover with Ian Whitten replacing him for the trip to Scotland.

Ian Nagle will start for the Wolfhounds on Friday as both Donnacha Ryan and Dan Tuohy, named in the original squad, have been ruled out because of injury. He will be partnered in the second row by Devin Toner.

IRELAND WOLFHOUNDS: 15: Gavin Duffy (Galwegians - Connacht)
14: Johne Murphy (Young Munster - Munster)
13: Eoin O'Malley (Old Belvedere - Leinster)
12: Nevin Spence (Ballynahinch – Ulster)
11: Denis Hurley (Cork Constitution - Munster)
10: Ian Humphreys (Ballymena - Ulster)
9: Tomás O’Leary (Dolphin – Munster)
1: Brett Wilkinson (Galwegians - Connacht)
2: Damien Varley (Garryowen - Munster)
3: Tony Buckley (Shannon - Munster)
4: Ian Nagle (Cork Constitution – Munster)
5: Devin Toner (Lansdowne - Leinster)
6: Kevin McLaughlin (St. Mary's College - Leinster)
7: Willie Faloon (Ballynahinch - Ulster)
8: Chris Henry (Ballymena - Ulster) CAPTAIN

REPLACEMENTS:

16: Nigel Brady (Dungannon - Ulster)
17: Jamie Hagan (Corinthians - Connacht)
18: Andrew Browne (Galwegians – Connacht)
19: Dominic Ryan (Lansdowne - Leinster)
20: Isaac Boss (Terenure College - Leinster)
21: Niall O'Connor (Belfast Harlequins - Ulster)
22: Ian Whitten (Ballynahinch – Ulster)

Heineken Cup quarter-final details released

Leinster will face Leicester on Saturday, 9 April in the Heineken Cup quarter-final while Ulster face a trip to Milton Keynes to face Northampton the following day.

Dates for the quarter-final round were announced today by ERC and the clash of Leinster, the highest seeded Irish province, and Heineken Cup blue-bloods Leicester has been given the prime Saturday evening spot in the schedule.

In a repeat of the 2009 final won by Leinster, the pair will face off at Aviva Stadium in a 6pm kick-off.

Ulster will face Northampton Saints at stadium:mk in Milton Keynes the following day (Sunday) at 2pm.

The other quarter-finals are all French affairs but both will take place in Northern Spain. Perpignan's clash with Toulon will get the weekend underway on Saturday at the 55,000 capacity Olympic Stadium in Barcelona.

The clash of Toulouse and Biarritz at Estadio Anoeta in San Sebastian, near Biarritz, will round of the weekend's action in the second Sunday match.

The semi-finals will pit the winners of the Leinster v Leicester clash against either Biarritz or Toulouse and the winners of Ulster v Northampton against Perpignan or Toulon.

If Leinster or Ulster win their quarter-final matches, their semi-final will take place in Ireland.

More Six Nations injury problems for Ireland

Jamie Heaslip, Shane Horgan, and John Hayes have been ruled out of Ireland's RBS 6 Nations Championship opener against Italy on Saturday week.

Hayes and Horgan are both expected to miss both the opening match in Rome on Sunday, 6 February and the game against France at Aviva Stadium the following weekend. Heaslip has only been ruled out of the opening match.

Both Hayes and Horgan were replaced at half-time during their province's Heineken Cup wins at the weekend.

Horgan is ruled out with a knee injury. His absence exacerbates a potential crisis at wing and full-back for Kidney and Ireland.

The Leinster winger has been in fine form of late of late and with Rob Kearney, Andrew Trimble and Geordan Murphy already ruled out, he was in contention for a starting place.

Tommy Bowe could also miss the Italy match, also with a knee problem, though it is hoped will be given the all clear to play. The Neath-Swansea Ospreys man is seeing a consultant in the UK today. Ireland manager Paul McNaughton later confirmed that he was doubtful to start.

Trimble ruled out of Six Nations opener

Andrew Trimble has been ruled out of Ireland's opening game in the RBS 6 Nations Championship against Italy after breaking a bone in his right hand.

Trimble picked up the injury during the Heineken Cup match at the weekend playing for Ulster against Aironi and follwoing an x-ray today, it was found that he had broken a metacarpal in his hand.

This will definitely keep him out of the Italy game and he will have a specialist review this week to determine how long he will be unable to play for.

On other injury news, both Stephen Ferris and Tommy Bowe underwent scans on knee problems and an update on their progress will be available in the next 24 hours.

Sean Cronin signs two year deal with Leinster

Leinster Rugby have announced the signing of Ireland hooker Sean Cronin who will join the province in the summer on a two year deal.

Cronin, 24, was educated at Ardscoil Rís in Limerick and has previously played with Munster and Connacht, whom he joined in the summer of 2008.

A former Ireland Schools representative, Cronin featured in the AIB League for Shannon and he earned his first Ireland cap against Fiji in the RDS in November 2009, incidentally in the same match as Jonathan Sexton and Sean O’Brien.

He won his first start against New Zealand in the 2010 Summer Tests and also started against Australia. Cronin has also represented Ireland Schools, U-19, U-21, and ‘A’ (Ireland Wolfhounds) levels. 

Leinster and Ulster face English opposition

Leinster will host Leicester in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals, while Ulster must travel to top-seeded Northampton.


Pool 2 champions Leinster will host the Tigers at home, potentially at the Aviva Stadium instead of regular home ground, the RDS, in what is a repeat of the 2009 Heineken Cup final - a match Leinster won 19-16 at Murrayfield.


Ulster face a very tough examination as they travel to England to face Northampton Saints. That match is currently fixed for Franklin's Gardens, but there are discussions ongoing to change the match to Stadium:mk. Franklin's Gardens has a capacity of 13,591, while Stadium:mk holds 22,000.


Ulster will consider themselves lucky to have avoided European giants Toulouse. A last-minute David Lemi try gave Wasps a surprise 21-16 win over Toulouse, a result which pushes Guy Noves' charges into an away tie against Biarritz.