Other rugby stories in brief
Flannery appeals
Munster have lodged an appeal against the eight-week suspension handed down to Jerry Flannery for stamping in their Heineken European Cup round five game away to Clermont.
The ERC-appointed independent disciplinary committee found the Ireland hooker had "deliberately stamped on the (Clermont) player's head" but, while accepting Flannery did make contact, Munster believe his action was not in any way premeditated or deliberate.
Munster chief executive Garrett Fitzgerald commented: "After further consideration of the incident, having again spoken to the player, having again studied the video of the incident and taken legal advice, we feel obliged to appeal the findings, of the Disciplinary Committee."
Alexandre Audebert, the Clermont flanker, has also lodged an appeal against an eight-week ban for stamping on Ronan O'Gara in the same match.
Leicester's Julian White has been suspended for five weeks for his punch on Malcolm O'Kelly at Welford Road.
Kaplan takes over
Chris White's calf injury has seen him replaced as referee for Saturday's Ireland-Italy game in Croke Park by South Africa's Jonathan Kaplan.
Wayne Barnes and Nigel Owens take White's place as touch judges for the France-Ireland game on February 9th and Ireland-Scotland game on February 23rd respectively. Two other touch-judge changes see David Changleng and Peter Allan replacing the recently retired Malcolm Changleng for Croke Park this Saturday and the Wales-Italy game on February 23rd respectively.
New faces for Elwood
There are no survivors from last year's Irish Under-20 Grand Slam-winning side in Eric Elwood's selection to play Italy in Dubarry Park tomorrow (live on RTÉ 2 at 7.35pm).
The team will be captained by the openside flanker Paul Ryan, who led the Ireland team during the Under-19 World Cup in Belfast last April.
Meanwhile, Shane Geraghty will line out at centre in the England Saxons team to play Ireland at Welford Road tomorrow at 7.45pm (live on Sky Sports).
IRELAND UNDER-20 (v Italy), tomorrow, Dubarry Park (7.35): N Morris (Blackrock); D Kearney (Lansdowne), E O'Malley (Old Belvedere), E Sheridan (Lansdowne), C Cochrane (Queen's Univ); M Dufficy (Dublin Univ), D Moore (Blackrock); P Karayiannis (Queen's Univ), S Douglas (Ballymena), B Barclay (UCD), D Nolan (Galwegians), E Sheriff (Lansdowne), K Essex (UL Bohs), P Ryan (Blackrock, capt), P Mallon (Lansdowne). Replacements: J Harris-Wright (Greystones), S Archer (UCC), J Sandford (Queen's), I Nagle (UCC), K Green (St Mary's), I Madigan (Blackrock), S Scanlon (UCC/Munster).
Manager: Phil Orr. Coach: Eric Elwood. Assistant coach: Dan McFarland.
ENGLAND SAXONS (v Ireland A), tomorrow, Welford Road (kick-off 7.45): N Abendanon (Bath)*; T Varndell (Leicester)*, O Smith (Leicester )*, S Geraghty (London Irish)*, D Armitage (London Irish); R Lamb (Gloucester), L Dickson (Newcastle); N Wood (Gloucester), D Paice (London Irish), J Hobson (Bristol), T Palmer (Wasps)*, N Kennedy (London Irish), P Dowson (Newcastle), B Woods (Newcastle), J Crane (Leicester, capt). Replacements: D Hartley (Northampton), D Wilson (Newcastle), G Skivington (Wasps), W Skinner (Harlequins), J Grindal (Newcastle), A Allen (Gloucester)*, M Brown (Harlequins)*. * Denotes full international.
