Ireland have been given some respite from their faltering start to the World Cup after receiving a clean bill of health for Saturday's clash with Georgia.
Skipper Brian O'Driscoll will lead the side - which is named this afternoon - after recovering from the hyper-extended elbow suffered during Sunday's 32-17 victory over Namibia.
And the Lions centre is expected to be joined in the line-up by Leinster team-mate Shane Horgan, who has completed his rehabilitation from the knee ligament strain sustained last month.
‘Brian's injury has settled down overnight and following treatment,’ read a medical bulletin from the Irish camp.
‘The injury did not require an x-ray but will continue to be monitored during training this week.
‘It will not rule him out of selection for the game against Georgia.
‘Shane will take a full part in training this week. His recovery means he will be available for selection.’
There were also encouraging updates on Ronan O'Gara and Marcus Horan, who sustained foot and back injuries respectively, with the Munster duo set to be included in the team to face Georgia.
‘Ronan bruised his left foot against Namibia but this has also improved over the last 24 hours and he is no longer an injury concern,’ the bulletin continued.
‘He is expected to take part in training tomorrow. Marcus Horan received a knock to his upper back and has some muscular bruising in this area.
‘Marcus will not take part in training on Wednesday, but is expected to be available for the weekend's game.’
Ireland can ill-afford to lose any of their key players as the fallout from their morale-sapping performance against Namibia continues.
A strong performance against Georgia is essential if they are to reignite their World Cup ambitions with collisions against feared group rivals France and Argentina looming.
The Namibia match needs to be wiped from the memory as quickly as possible and flanker David
Wallace has demanded a dramatic improvement on Saturday.
‘We thought our World Cup warm-up games were a kick in the a***, but Namibia gave us another one,’ said the Munster openside.
‘We need to do a bit of soul searching. That standard is not acceptable if we want to progress in the World Cup.
‘It was not a great start against Namibia. We were looking to set out a stall but we made so many errors, more than I can ever remember.
‘I'm very disappointed. We'll have to change a few things for Georgia because we can't play like that again.
‘It's impossible to say why we played so badly, so how do you change it? Is it a mental thing? I don't know.
‘There is concern, obviously. We have had a good couple of good seasons and we must remember that because you don't become a bad team overnight.’
