Rugby:Ireland lock Donncha O'Callaghan has been ruled out of Saturday's Six Nations opener against Italy at Croke Park after a suffering a reccurrence of a knee injury. The Munster man will be replaced in the starting line-up by Leo Cullen, while Donnacha Ryan comes on to the bench in place of the Leinster captain.
O’Callaghan, capped 58 times, originally sustained the injury in the narrow Heineken Cup win over Northampton a fortnight ago and has failed to recover sufficiently. Ireland management remains hopeful he will be available to face France in Paris next week.
At 32, Cullen has just 20 caps to his name but brings with him plenty of big-game experience, having led his province to the Heineken Cup title last season.
Saturday's game will mark Cullen's first Six Nations game since he started against Wales in March 2003, but Irish management have no fears about the Wicklow man stepping up to the plate.
"Leo is an experienced player, a Heineken cup winner and captain with Leinster. He was in squad in November and he's a very experienced guy to bring into the team," explained Paul McNaughton, Irish team manager.
Nonetheless, O'Callaghan's absence is possibly more of a blow than that of Stephen Ferris and Marcus Horan from the pack, given his familiarity with Munster team-mate and partner in crime Paul O'Connell.
Ryan has been in good form this season and his inclusion would seem a significant vote of confidence from manager Declan Kidney, who could very easily have called his Munster team-mate and Ireland 'A' captain Mick O’Driscoll in to the matchday 22.
In the Italy camp Craig Gower has been selected at outhalf despite concerns over a leg injury.
The Australian-born rugby league convert missed two days of training at the start of the week because of a knock to his left quadriceps and a final decision on his fitness will be made tomorrow.
If Gower fails to recover in time for the meeting against the Grand Slam champions, Riccardo Bocchino is likely to be bumped up from the bench to make his debut at Croke Park.
Andrea Marcato, who was first choice fullback during last year's tournament and has also played outhalf, was cut from the squad earlier this week and has since withdrawn from the 'A' side with a minor muscle strain.
With inspirational captain and number eight Sergio Parisse out of Saturday's match with a knee injury, hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini will captain the side.
Wing Kaine Robertson and lock Quintin Geldenhuys retain their places ahead of Andrea Masi and former captain Marco Bortolami, who are both back from injury.
Teams
Ireland:R Kearney; T Bowe, B O'Driscoll (capt), G D'Arcy, A Trimble; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; C Healy, J Flannery, J Hayes; L Cullen, P O'Connell, K McLaughlin, D Wallace, J Heaslip. Replacements :R Best, T Court, D Ryan, S O'Brien, E Reddan, P Wallace, K Earls.
Italy:L McLean; K Robertson, G Canale, G Garcia, M Bergamasco; C Gower, T Tebaldi; S Perugini, L Ghiraldini (capt), M Castrogiovanni; 4-C Del Fava, Q Geldenhuys; J Sole, M Bergamasco, A Zanni. Replacements: F Ongaro, M Aguero, M Bortolami, P Derbyshire, S Picone, R Bocchino, A Masi.