Injured O’Driscoll out of Irish Six Nations campaign

Ulster’s Darren Cave, who has been in superb form and was viewed as a leading contender to replace Ireland’s skipper, has been ruled out for six weeks because of a foot injury.

Scrum-halves Tomas O’Leary and Isaac Boss have both been confined to the Wolfhounds with Boss the only member of the World Cup squad selected for the second string.

Geordan Murphy, who also travelled to New Zealand, is absent from the 24 but earlier this month stated he was available in the event of an injury crisis.

Apart from the injured O’Driscoll and Denis Leamy, all 22 who slipped to a 22-10 quarter-final defeat by Wales last October are present among the senior squad.

They will be joined during next week’s training camp in Limerick by the uncapped Ian Nagle, Peter O’Mahony, Tiernan O’Halloran, Paddy McAllister, Andrew Conway and Simon Zebo.

The 22 to face Wales in the Six Nations opener at Lansdowne Road will be named on Monday week. Alongside O’Driscoll, Leamy and Cave, David Wallace, Felix Jones, Jerry Flannery, Eoin Griffen and Niall Ronan were not considered due to injury.

Another shock omission is Leinster winger Luke Fitzgerald, who joins the second-string to face England Saxons on January 28 – despite showing strong form since missing the World Cup.

Ireland squad: R Best (Ulster), T Bowe (Ospreys), T Court (Ulster), S Cronin (Leinster), L Cullen (Leinster), G D’Arcy (Leinster), K Earls (Munster), S Ferris (Ulster), C Healy (Leinster), J Heaslip (Leinster), S Jennings (Leinster), R Kearney (Leinster), F McFadden (Leinster), C Murray (Munster), S O’Brien (Leinster), D O’Callaghan (Munster), P O’Connell (Munster), R O’Gara (Munster), E Reddan (Leinster), M Ross (Leinster), D Ryan (Munster), J Sexton (Leinster), A Trimble (Ulster), P Wallace (Ulster).