Keith Wood is a major injury doubt for Ireland's Six Nations opener against Wales at Lansdowne Road on 3 February. A calf strain has kept Wood out since before Christmas. The Ireland captain had a scan at a hospital in Limerick, as the squad gathered for a week of training under new head coach Eddie O'Sullivan.
Wood says that he is "very frustrated" with this injury. "I was hoping to play for 20 minutes with Harlequins last Saturday but that didn't happen. My aim then was to play this weekend but that is highly unlikely at this stage.
"I am not out of the Welsh game - not yet - but I have to play against Northampton the weekend after next. That is only fair for everyone involved with Ireland. I don't know yet if that is possible. I have had the scan and I am waiting for the results now. In the meantime I have to wait and work on my fitness. I just tore my calf when I went to catch a ball and I overstretched.
"I wasn't able to do anything for the first couple of weeks after that. But I was able to use that fortnight as a rest which should stand to me as the season has been very hectic. All I have done since is some aqua-jogging work in the pool. I feel great but I don't know how sharp my fitness is in a match context and I have to test that before I know where I stand with Ireland," said Wood.
Centre Shane Horgan and scrum-half Brian O'Meara are also missing from the training camp through injuries picked up in Leinster's Heineken Cup defeat in Toulouse at the weekend. The pair will definitely miss the quarter-final against Leicester at Welford Road on Sunday week and the championship opener at Lansdowne Road seven days later. Horgan could be out for up to seven weeks with suspected broken ribs, while O'Meara suffered medial knee ligament damage.
Coach O'Sullivan had one bit of good fortune with the news that first-choice scrum-half Peter Stringer should be available after reporting a rapid improvement to a broken bone in his heel.
Filed by Greg McKevitt
