sport

Call for Earls, Ireland wait on Ferris

Will he or won't he? Ferris

Ireland have decided to give Stephen Ferris extra time to recover ahead of facing France in Paris, with Declan Kidney leaving his position vacant.

A vacancy has also been left in the lock position as the Grand Slam champions await confirmation of the fitness of Donncha O'Callaghan.

Both the Munster forward and Ferris took part in training with the Ireland team on Tuesday but according to Irish Rugby, a final decision will be made on Thursday.

The seven replacements will also be finalised on the same from the possible nine players named at Ireland's press conference.

Ronan O'Gara will be winning his 95th cap on Saturday and alongside Brian O'Driscoll and John Hayes is one of only three survivors from Ireland's last victory in Paris, a 27-25 win in 2000.

"Ronan had a very good game against Italy so there was no reason not to play him this week," said Kidney.

"Jon has been making a good recovery and the final stage of that should be achieved tomorrow when he goes place kicking.

"We're in the lucky position of having two good fly-halves and Ronan's experience will be more than helpful going to Paris."

Kidney's plans for France have been affected by a chaotic injury list that claimed lock O'Callaghan as victim once more, so Leo Cullen continues to deputise alongside Paul O'Connell.

Back-row enforcer Ferris will be given every chance to prove his fitness, confronting him with a race against time to overcome the knee problem that forced him out against Italy.

Kevin McLaughlin is on standby to replace him while Keith Earls comes in for left wing Andrew Trimble, who is nursing a hamstring strain.

"We'll make a decision as soon as we can with Stephen, but sometimes you don't make a decision until you have to," said Kidney.

"Donncha trained this morning but just isn't right to take the pitch on Saturday.

"Keith did very well against South Africa last autumn and didn't do anything wrong in December or January.

"I wanted to give Andrew a go to see how he went last week. He went well but Keith deserves his go now.

"Andrew tweaked his hamstring and we want to give him full time to recover."

Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (capt), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace), 6 A.N.Other, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Leo Cullen, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Rory Best, 17 Tom Court, 18 Donnacha Ryan, 19 Sean O'Brien, 20 Kevin McLaughlin, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Jonathan Sexton, 23 Paddy Wallace, 24 Andrew Trimble.

Date: Saturday, February 13
Kick-off: 17:30 (16:30 GMT)
Venue: Stade de France