O’Driscoll and D’Arcy will be fit to face French

IRELAND captain Brian O’Driscoll and centre partner Gordon D’Arcy will both be fit and available for the Six Nations match against France at Lansdowne Road on Saturday week.

O’Driscoll is out of the IRB tsunami fundraiser at Twickenham tomorrow with an elbow injury, but insisted: “it’s not too serious.”

And Irish coach Eddie O’Sullivan also expressed his confidence yesterday that D’Arcy will recover from the hamstring injury which has restricted him to 20 minutes’ action in this season’s championship for the French game.

Clive Woodward, coach to the northern hemisphere side at Twickenham tomorrow, said: “I promised Eddie O’Sullivan that if there was any doubt about Brian I would leave him out. They have some very important matches coming up.”

Meanwhile, Munster coach Alan Gaffney has made five changes from the side that started against Glasgow for tomorrow’s crucial Celtic League clash with Cardiff Blues at The Arms Park (5.30pm). Shaun Payne and Rob Henderson return to the starting line-up in place of James Storey and Jason Holland, while Mike Prendergast takes over from Eoin Reddan. Both Holland and Reddan are named in the reserves.

Up front, the front row remains the same, Tom Bowman replaces the unavailable Donncha O’Callaghan in the second row and Stephen Keogh comes into the back-row for his first start since the game against Connacht on December 27.

“It’s simply a matter of giving players some game time. Shaun (Payne) was a late cry-off last time and Rob (Henderson) hasn’t started since the Harlequins game in January. Eoin Reddan got a full eighty against Glasgow so now it’s Mike Prendergast’s turn,” said Gaffney.

“It’s the same in the forwards. We’re without Donncha O’Callaghan, who is involved in the charity game at Twickenham while Denis Leamy and David Pusey are both injured.

“So we moved things around a bit and Stephen (Keogh) gets a run which means Alan (Quinlan) is on the bench but he’s (Quinlan) played the last five matches so I believe a rest will freshen him up.”

Meanwhile, Leinster take on the leaders, Neath/Swansea Ospreys at Donnybrook on Sunday, knowing they cannot afford. Leinster coach Declan Kidney has delayed naming his side until tomorrow at the earliest. The key issues are surround a starting berth for Gordon D’Arcy and Keith Gleeson. The centre will start while Gleeson may just be held back another week after just returning with St Mary’s College last weekend.

Ulster coach Mark McCall said his side had to win tonight’s Celtic League match against Glasgow at Ravenhill (7.30pm). Although the IRFU have said they will be deciding which three provinces will be going into Europe next season - and that would indicate Ulster being one of the three - McCall does not want to be in a situation where the province finish behind Connacht.

Michael Bradley’s side welcome back a host of players for this evening’s Celtic League clash with Edinburgh at Murrayfield (7.30pm).

Eric Elwood, John Fogarty, John O’Sulllivan and Mark McHugh, who all missed the last league outing against Llanelli, are named in the starting XV.

Meanwhile, Irish coach Eddie O’Sullivan has added eleven players to the squad of 22 involved in the English game to prepare for the clash with France on Saturday week.

Amongst them are Munster flankers David Wallace and Alan Quinlan and backs Anthony Horgan and Shaun Payne but, more significantly, Gordon D’Arcy. The additional players also include Gavin Duffy who was a try-scoring substitute in the Six Nations victory over Scotland.

Ireland squad additions: S Best (Ulster), B Jackman (Connacht), A Quinlan (Munster), D Wallace (Munster), M McCullough (Ulster), T Bowe (Ulster), K Campbell (Ulster), G D’Arcy (Leinster), G Duffy (Harlequins), A Horgan (Munster), S Payne (Munster).

Munster (v Cardiff): C. Cullen; J. Kelly, S. Payne, R. Henderson, A. Horgan; P. Burke, M. Prendergast; M. Horan, F. Sheahan, G. McIlwham; T. Bowman, T. Hogan; J. Williams, D. Wallace, S. Keogh.

Replacements: F Roche, J Flannery, T Hayes, A Quinlan, E Reddan, J Holland, P Devlin.

Connacht (v Edinburgh): M Mostyn, C McPhillips, D Yapp, M McHugh, D Slemen, E Elwood, C Keane, D McFarland, J Fogarty, S Knoop, C Short, A Farley (cpt), M Swift, M Lacey, J O’Sullivan.

IRELAND U19s (v Wales, Bedwas RFC, tonight, 7pm): R. Kearney (UCD), captain, R. Boles Colston (Exiles), F. McFadden (Clongowes Wood College), Darren Cave (Sullivan UHS), A. McCormack (Lansdowne), E. Ryan (UCC), M. D’Arcy (Dublin University); G. Walsh (UL Bohs), G. O’Meara (Lansdowne), K. Griffin (Shannon), D. McGowan (Buccaneers), F. Walsh (UCC), D. Dawson (Cooke), D. Laffen (Dublin University), D. Sherry (Ard Scoil Ris).

Replacements: C. Black-Hartpury (Exiles), B. Lynch (Rotherham), C. Muldoon (Galwegians), A. Saunderson (Ballyclare), K. Lett (UCD), E. Moloney (UCC), G. Cooney (Old Belv), F. Daly (Thomond), C. Kenefick (UCC), N. Lysaght (Blackrock RFC).