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Rugby Union

O'Driscoll, Stringer fall short in fitness race

09/02/2007

The key Irish duo of Peter Stringer and captain Brian O'Driscoll have come up short in their race to be fit for the crunch Six Nations clash with France on Sunday.

World-class centre O'Driscoll will be badly missed by the Irish after he pulled up with a hamstring injury in last week's opening win over Wales in Cardiff and fellow veteran Stringer will also be unable to feature.

The news is a blow to Ireland, whose showdown with the French will be their first match at the historic Gaelic football venue of Croke Park in Dublin.

The French and Irish sides are closely matched and Sunday's game has been dubbed a grand slam decider, with the winner hotly tipped to go on to win the tournament.

France will be slightly favoured by many pundits with O'Driscoll ruled out, although talented winger Shane Horgan, who has made a remarkable recovery from knee surgery to be fit for the match, will move inside to cover for his captain at centre.

Geordan Murphy takes Horgan's place on the wing after being favoured over Andrew Trimble.

Stringer has a broken hand, which hampered his play slightly against Wales, and Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan has chosen not to risk the veteran scrum-half against a physical French side.

Ulster half-back Isaac Boss will take his place at number nine for his Six Nations debut, with Eoin Reddan drafted in as his replacement on the bench.

O'Sullivan delayed his team announcement until the last minute in order to give the key duo of Stringer and O'Driscoll as much time as possible to get fit but unfortunately the match has come around too quickly for either man.

O'Driscoll had previously spoken of his heart-felt desire to play at Croke Park – the 82,000-capacity stadium holding a great deal of personal memories for him.

Ireland team to face France on Sunday:

Girvan Dempsey, Geordan Murphy, Shane Horgan, Gordan D'Arcy, Denis Hickie, Ronan O'Gara, Isaac Boss; Marcus Horan, Rory Best, John Hayes, Donncha O'Callaghan, Paul O'Connell, Simon Easterby, David Wallace, Denis Leamy

Replacements: Jerry Flannery, Simon Best, Neil Best, Mick O'Driscoll, Eoin Reddan, Paddy Wallace, Andrew Trimble.

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