Six Nations Championship: Ronan O'Gara resumed light training with the Irish squad yesterday when running lightly, though his availability for Sunday's opening Six Nations encounter against Scotland in Murrayfield is still in doubt.

Paul Burke has remained with the Irish squad pending a decision on O'Gara, who nonetheless could be named in Ireland's starting line-up which is announced today, as the Sunday kick-off gives the outhalf an extra 24 hours to recover from the stamping Neath flanker Brett Sinkinson inflicted on his ankle in the Celtic League final last Saturday week.

Italy, Ireland's second opponents on Saturday week in Rome, yesterday welcomed back their most-capped player and record points scorer Diego Dominguez for their opening assignment at home to Wales on Saturday.

The veteran Stade Francais outhalf, now 36, had been ruled out of the Azzurri's first two games after incurring a nasty head injury against Wasps on January 19th but unexpectedly returned for his club's win over Montferrand at the weekend.

It is also hoped that the presence of Dominguez (whose Test haul of 965 from 72 caps is bettered only by Neil Jenkins on 1,049) will help boost ticket sales, which have been utterly dismal up until now, for Saturday's game at the 24,973-capacity Stadio Flaminio.

As of yesterday, only 8,000 tickets had been sold for the game, of which it is believed that only 2,000 have been taken up by Italians.

A similar scenario is unfolding for the visit of Ireland, with the IRFU having sold their initial allocation of 5,500 as well as an additional 1,500 tickets.

Saturday's match will clash with the anti-war demonstration taking place in Rome which is expected to bring over 500,000 protestors, as well as the Roma-Brescia soccer game - likely to attract 60,000 - at the nearby Olympic Stadium that night. Such is the scale of the anti-war demonstration that supporters will be advised to travel to the Stadio Flaminio on Saturday over two hours before kick-off.

Nevertheless, the Italian Federation only began to market the game yesterday, when also belatedly announcing planned television coverage on the terrestrial sports channel Rai 3. Even that, due to confusion over the kick-off time, will not be transmitted live, but "delayed" by an hour.

The mostly northern-based clubs, such as Genoa, Calvisano, Treviso and the like, have not taken up their customary 5-6,000 tickets, amid growing pressure to move Italy's Six Nations game from Rome to Genoa.

The Azzurri's 41-36 win last Saturday over an All Star XV drawn from overseas players based in Italy was notable for John Kirwan's surprise decision to play Mauro Bergamasco on the right wing, despite the 23-year-old flanker having won all 27 of his caps at flanker. Bergamasco scored a try and was deemed man of the match by Kirwan, who seems intent on playing him there against Wales.

Kirwan, despite two years as Brad Johnston's assistant, has experimented to such an extent that he has already used 36 players in his first five games in charge, and his latest 26-man squad selection sees the return of South African-born full back Gert Peens as well as veteran three-quarter Cristian Stoica.

^{_{ITALY (squad): M Bergamasco, D Dallan, R Martinez, N Mazzucato, S Palmer, A Troncon (Benetton Treviso); L Castrogiovanni, G De Carli, A De Rossi, A Moretti, S Perugini, G Raineri, P Vaccari, C Zanoletti (Ghial Am. e Calvisano); C Festuccia (SKG GRAN Rugby); M Bergamasco, M Bortolami, (APS Petrarca Padova); C Bezzi, A Persico, M Phillips (Arix Viadana); G Peens (Overmach Parma); M Giacheri, R Pez (Rotherham); D Dominguez (Stade Français); J Manuel Queirolo (Dax), C-Ale-Stoica (Castres).}}

^_FIXTURES

^{_{Today - Munster Schools' Senior Cup: Newtown v PBC, Bainakill 3.00}}

^{_{Thursday - Munster Schools' Senior Cup: St Munchin's v Glenstal, Thomond Park 3.00}}

^{_{Friday - Limerick Charity Cup Final: Garryowen v UL Bohemians, Thomond Park 7.30}}

^{_{Saturday - Six Nations Championship: Italy v Wales, Rome, 1.30; England v France, Twickenham 4.00. A International: Scotland A v Ireland A, Bridehaugh, Sterling 7.30. AIL Division Three: QUB v Ballina, Dub Lane 2.30. Munster Senior Cup: Bruff v Old Crescent, Bruff 3.45; Highfield v Sunday's Well, Woodleigh Park 2.30; Dolphin v Waterpark, Musgrave Park 2.30. Munster Schools Senior Cup: Ard Scoil Ris v Rockwell, Thomond Park 3.30 Sunday Six Nations Championship: Scotland v Ireland, Murrayfield 3.00}}