Ireland won their second match of this years Six Nations by a comfortable 40 points to 13. Ireland started very badly but were comfortable victors once the forwards got rolling after about 20 minutes.

Gordon D’Arcy failed a fitness test on his injured hamstring this morning and has been ruled out of tomorrow’s match with Scotland. D’Arcy had initially been doubtful along with Brian O’Driscoll when named in the squad but after scans on Monday both were named in the team.

Ireland have been dealt a blow ahead of Saturday’s Six Nations clash with captain Brian O’Driscoll having been ruled out of the match due to the hamstring injury he picked up against Italy last weekend.

Eddie O’Sullivan has named both Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy in the Ireland team to face Scotland on Saturday. Both players had been regarded as extremely doubtful having picked up hamstring injuries against Italy next week. However scans performed on both players indicate that the injuries aren’t as bad as first thought and both players will start subject to passing fitness tests later in the week.

A flight delay has meant that scans to both Brian O’Driscoll’s and Gordon D’Arcy’s hamstring injuries have been delayed meaning that we will not recieve news on their fitness until tomorrow when Eddie O’Sullivan names his side for next Saturday’s clash with Scotland.

Ireland have got their Six Nations off to a good start with a 28 points to 17 victory over Italy in Rome. The result may have been good but the performance was anything but, with the Italians in contention right until the end. Ireland have also been hit with two huge injury blows with both Gordon D’Arcy and Brian O’Driscoll very doubtful for next Saturday’s game against Scotland.

Eddie O’Sullivan has announced the Ireland team for the trip to Italy for their opening Six Nations clash on Sunday.

The fixutures list for the 2005 Autumn Internationals have been announced and Ireland will face both Australia and New Zealand this Autumn. Eddie O’Sullivan’s men will first face off against New Zealand, then a week later they’ll face Australia. The series will finish with an easier proposition, Romania.

Eddie O’Sullivan today announced a 25 man Ireland squad for the Six Nations opener against Italy next Sunday week. Of the 25 man squad only wing-forwards Johnny O’Connor and Denis Leamy are uncapped in the Championship.

We have pictures of the new Ireland jerseys which will be released ahead of this year’s Six Nations.