International news: Already pressed for time with just four days to prepare for a rejuvenated Scotland at Murrayfield, the Irish squad had to suffer the discomfiture of a two-hour delayed flight out of Rome yesterday. This meant their rehabilitation from Sunday's game didn't begin until late last night.
Both of the walking wounded, captain Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy, went straight from the airport to hospital for further medical scans on their troubling hamstrings. The initial worrying prognosis remains the same with slightly more hope surrounding O'Driscoll's availability.
Reggie Corrigan, who was an injury concern last week, is expected to be selected for his 41st cap despite being replaced by Marcus Horan just after the hour mark in Rome.
Confirmation of the 22-man squad will be made after training today in the Citywest hotel at 12.45. That is another event the management could do without as they effectively lose a second session. That leaves one full day of training before departing to Edinburgh.
It was still up in the air last night whether this morning's open session, which isn't really a full session at all, would take place at Terenure College or Naas.
It's not completely doom and gloom this week, though, as the eight players dropped last week when the Test match squad was named return to the group.
This means almost immediately, the potential loss of O'Driscoll and D'Arcy will be offset by Tommy Bowe, Kevin Maggs, Anthony Horgan and Gavin Duffy all fighting for a place in the team or at least the bench.
O'Driscoll's absence would mean a match day captain would have to be named, with Paul O'Connell and Anthony Foley the strongest candidates.
In the forwards, Simon Best had gone to Italy as a precaution while Alan Quinlan, Johnny O'Connor and surprise choice Ben Gissing also return.
Scotland have named a 34-man training squad ahead of Saturday with loose forward Simon Taylor still a noticeable absentee due to injury. However, captain Gordon Bulloch was adamant yesterday that they must recover from the crushing defeat in Paris.
"Driving home on Sunday I realised what a missed chance it was for us. There are not many Scottish players who have been to Paris and come away with a win and as the years go by I feel that it was a huge opportunity for myself and the players around me.
"We have had a look at a few of those controversial decisions but I think that it's important now to concentrate on a very tough game against Ireland.
"If we moan to each other and the media and get bogged down in it all then our performance will suffer. What's happened has happened, the result stands and there is nothing we can do about it. We've got to go on and prepare accordingly for Ireland because it is going to be a tough game for our boys."
SCOTLAND SQUAD - Backs: M Blair (Edinburgh Rugby), A Craig (Glasgow Rugby), C Cusiter (The Borders), S Danielli (The Borders), M Di Rollo (Edinburgh Rugby), P Godman (Edinburgh Rugby), C Howarth (Glasgow Rugby), B Hinshelwood (Worcester Warriors), A Henderson (Glasgow Rugby), R Lamont (Glasgow Rugby), S Lamont (Glasgow Rugby), D Parks (Glasgow Rugby), C Paterson (Edinburgh Rugby), G Ross (Leeds Tykes), H Southwell (Edinburgh Rugby), S Webster (Edinburgh Rugby).
Forwards: R Beattie (Northampton Saints), G Bulloch (Glasgow Rugby, capt), D Callam (Edinburgh Rugby), B Douglas (The Borders), J Dunbar (Leeds Tykes), I Fullerton (Saracens), S Grimes (Newcastle Falcons), N Hines (Edinburgh Rugby), A Hogg (Edinburgh Rugby), G Kerr (Leeds Tykes), N Lloyd (Saracens), S Lawson (Glasgow Rugby), E Murray (Glasgow Rugby), S Murray (Edinburgh Rugby), J Petrie (Glasgow Rugby), R Russell (London Irish), T Smith (Northampton Saints), J White (Sale Sharks).
