Marcus Horan ruled out of Autumn tests

The IRFU have confirmed that Marcus Horan will not be available for the Guinness Series games, while seven new players have been called up to the senior Ireland squad for the match against Australia.

Following further tests this week, Horan underwent a routine medical procedure today and will undergo a period of rest over the next number of weeks. It is expected that he will be available to Munster and Ireland after the New Year.

Aside from the Munster and Ireland prop, Ireland have no major injury concerns within the 39-man squad that finished the week-long training camp. All but three of the players took some part in training at the University of Limerick today with the only exceptions being Denis Leamy, Paddy Wallace and Tomás O'Leary, who are recovering from colds.

Kidney acknowledged during the week that the Guinness Series would be a serious test of Ireland’s playing resources with Ireland A set to play a Tonga XV on Friday, 13 November and the senior squad then due to line out for a Test match against Australia two days later.

With the A and senior camps set to be based in different cities - Belfast and Dublin respectively - the challenge is even greater and Kidney has opted to split his panel and add fresh manpower to the senior squad.

The Ireland head coach has retained 24 of those named in the original panel in the senior squad while seven players: Bob Casey, Felix Jones, Ian Dowling, Denis Hurley, John Muldoon, Mick O’Driscoll and Niall Ronan – are fresh call ups.

The rest of the original 39-man panel named last week drops to an A squad that includes more than one big name.

Most surprising of all is perhaps Peter Stringer, who was a key player in Ireland’s march to the Grand Slam earlier this year. His demotion means Eoin Reddan and O’Leary will fight it out for the starting scrum-half spot against Australia.

Shane Horgan is also named among the As despite holding down the right wing berth in a Leinster team that includes Isa Nacewa, Luke Fitzgerald, Rob Kearney and Gordon D’Arcy - the latter three of which are all retained.

At prop, in the absence of Horan, Kidney has opted to keep Tom Court, Cian Healy and John Hayes. Tony Buckley, Mike Ross, Bryan Young and Brett Wilkinson drop down.

Also called up to the As are Connacht’s Ian Keatley and Ulster’s Ian Humphries, who will compete for the starting out-half spot and third place in the pecking order behind incumbent Ronan O’Gara and 2009 Heineken Cup winning pivot Jonathan Sexton. Kevin McLaughlin, Leinster’s current ‘Player of the Month’ is brought into the Ireland A fold for the first time, as are Johne Murphy and Ulster lock Dan Tuohy.

Concern about Munster hooker Jerry Flannery’s calf injury, which has progressed well during this week, means that both Sean Cronin and John Fogarty are retained in the senior squad, with AN Other named in the A group.

Munster's Denis Fogarty is the sole hooker in that squad at present.

The senior squad will reconvene camp in Dublin next Monday while the 22-man A squad to play Tonga will be based in Belfast.

The next announcement will be on Tuesday, when the team to face Tonga will be announced.

Ireland Squad (31) v Australia at Croke Park on Sunday, 15 November:

Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
Bob Casey (London Irish)
Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht)
Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster)
Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Ian Dowling (Shannon/Munster)
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College/Leinster)
Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
John Fogarty (De La Salle Palmerston/Leinster)
John Hayes (Bruff/Munster)
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)
Denis Hurley (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Felix Jones (Shannon/Munster)
Robert Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster)
John Muldoon (Galwegians/Connacht)
Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Paul O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
Mick O'Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Brian O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster)
Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Tomas O'Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Niall Ronan (Shannon/Munster)
Jonathan Sexton (St.Mary's College/Leinster)
David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)
Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)

Ireland A Squad (22) v Tonga on Friday, 13 November:

Neil Best (Northampton)
Isaac Boss (Ballymena/Ulster)
Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Gavin Duffy (Galwegians/Connacht)
Denis Fogarty (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster)
Shane Horgan (Boyne/Leinster)
Ian Humphreys (Ballymena/Ulster)
Ian Keatley (Galwegians/Connacht)
Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
Kevin McLaughlin (UCD/Leinster)
Johne Murphy (Leicester)
Sean O'Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
Michael Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster)
Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster)
Brett Wilkinson (Galwegians/Connacht)
Bryan Young (Ballymena/Ulster)
A.N. Other