O’Driscoll is out; D’Arcy a long shot for Scots

Charlie Mulqueen, Edinburgh

Hopes that O'Driscoll would respond to intensive treatment on the hamstring injury he picked up in the last minute of Sunday's victory in Rome faded in the last couple of days, with coach Eddie O'Sullivan accepting before the team left for Edinburgh yesterday that it would be unwise to take a chance with his captain's fitness.

Accordingly, O'Driscoll didn't even travel, O'Sullivan putting the emphasis on getting him fully fit for the clash with England on Sunday fortnight.

Having played one of the best games of his illustrious career in Rome, O'Driscoll is sure to be a huge loss against the fired-up Scots.

The situation will be even worse should D'Arcy fail to come through a fitness test in Dublin this morning.

He continues to work feverishly on his hamstring strain and the plan is that he will be put through his paces early this morning, in good time for the news to be relayed to O'Sullivan before he announces his revised team at a press briefing at Murrayfield at 11am.

Kevin Maggs of Ulster and Gavin Duffy of Harlequins, who were not included in the original 22 on Tuesday, joined the squad yesterday.

If D'Arcy fails to make it and only a wild optimist would give him a chance then the near certainty is that Maggs and Shane Horgan will form the new centre partnership, with Geordan Murphy on the wing, Girvan Dempsey at full-back and Duffy on the bench.

If D'Arcy comes through, he is likely to team up with Horgan in the centre, leaving Duffy out of the equation altogether.

No matter how it works out, Ireland will go into a crunch game with an ill-prepared three-quarter line.

There will also be an added onus on the Irish pack to step up on last week, when only the brilliance of O'Driscoll saved the side from an embarrassing defeat as the Italians more than shaded the battle up front.

Apart from patching up his back division, O'Sullivan must also decide on a captain to replace O'Driscoll. Paul O'Connell filled the role in Paris last year when O'Driscoll was again ruled out by injury and looks sure to take the armband on this occasion, although Anthony Foley is even more experienced and the current Munster skipper.

Whereas Ireland now appear a little unsettled, the Scottish coach Matt Williams yesterday announced the same XV as that which nearly shocked France in the Stade de France last Saturday.

Asked at his press conference about whether he believed O'Sullivan and the Irish camp were playing mind games, he laughed heartily and left nobody in any doubt that he believed neither O'Driscoll nor D'Arcy, both of whom he coached in his Leinster days, would take any part in the game.

Meanwhile, reports yesterday suggested that Lions coach, Clive Woodward has chosen Paul O'Connell to lead this summer's tour to New Zealand.

Woodward, who watched O'Connell win his 25th cap in the hard-fought win over Italy in the opening round of the Six Nations in Rome last Sunday, believes that the player 'ticks all the necessary boxes'.

Barring an injury, O'Connell is set to be confirmed as Lions captain when the tour party is announced in mid-April.

The towering lock's appointment will no doubt be met with widespread approval.