Despite the conflicting signs coming from Harlequins, Keith Wood touched base in the Irish team hotel in Richmond last night and has indicated he will take his place as Irish captain and hooker in next Saturday's international against Italy in Bologna.
In the meantime, injuries continue to hit the team. The withdrawal of Paul Wallace means Peter Clohessy will win his first cap since his appearance at Parc des Princes two seasons ago, after which he was suspended for stamping on Olivier Roumat.
The Young Munster tighthead wins his 17th cap after Wallace became the latest player to be sidelined from this troubled fixture. The Lions' prop sustained a calf injury in his two-try performance for Saracens in their 50-23 win over Bath on Sunday.
The Irish management have also confirmed that two other original selections, Rob Henderson and Kieron Dawson, have been ruled out after sustaining groin and ankle ligament injuries while playing for Wasps and London Irish over the weekend.
Bristol's Kevin Maggs moves from left-wing to his more customary position of centre, and the prolific Moseley left-winger, Darragh O'Mahony, is recalled for the first time since he played against Italy and France in 1995. Dawson's replacement also causes a reshuffle: Dylan O'Grady, initially selected to win his first cap on the blind side, switches to his more accustomed open-side flanker position to accommodate David Erskine's recall at number six. Erskine had, surprisingly, been dropped after an impressive full debut against Canada.
These changes mean there are eight alterations in personnel from the side which accounted for Canada, and one positional switch. The only area of the team which is unchanged is the second row.
In further amendments to the original squad, the St Mary's number eight, Victor Costello, and the Northampton centre Jonathan Bell have been drafted onto the replacements' bench.
The Irish team will train at London Irish's grounds in Sunbury-on-Thames today and tomorrow before moving on to Bologna on Thursday.
As for Wood, the Irish captain met up with his team-mates on schedule last night and expects to play in Bologna. "I spoke to Andy Keast (the Harlequins' coach) yesterday (Sunday), and as far as he was concerned I'm playing for Ireland on Saturday."
Both Keast and the club's chief executive, Donald Kerr, were unavailable for comment yesterday as they were attending a series of meetings, which fuels speculation that this issue has not yet been resolved. Harlequins may also be trying to secure a postponement of next weekend's league clash with Leicester, for whom Eric Miller would also be missing due to the Bologna fixture.
As for the letter reputedly written by Kerr on behalf of the English Rugby Partnership to the IRFU saying that England-based players with games this weekend would not be released for the Ireland-Italy encounter, there has been no sign of this missive at 62 Lansdowne Road, nor any communication from Kerr which suggested it was on its way.
Meanwhile, Wood's front-row partner at Harlequins and rival Italian captain, Massimo Cuttitta, joined his international colleagues in Milan yesterday on time. However, there is a slight difference in Cuttitta's case, as the prop had been released by his federation from a Latin Cup game against Romania so he could play for Harlequins against Sale. In reciprocation, club and federation agreed that Cuttitta would be released for Italy's games against South Africa (last month) and Ireland.
Saturday's match will be televised live by RTE as part of the last Sports Stadium. The programme was launched in 1973 with Brendan O'Reilly as presenter.
The station will also be showing three of Ireland's four games in the Five Nations, although negotiations are continuing over the rights to the England match at Twickenham, which is to be screened by Sky. RTE are likely to secure delayed transmission of the game.
