Cullen called in for crocked DOC
February 04 2010
Ireland have been forced into a late change ahead of their opening Six Nations clash with Italy after Donncha O'Callaghan was ruled out.
The forward suffered a knee injury setback on Wednesday and has been replaced by Leinster captain Leo Cullen, with Donncha Ryan coming onto the replacements bench for Saturday.
"Leo is an experienced player, a Heineken cup winner and captain with Leinster," said Team Manager Paul McNaughton, speaking to Irish Rugby.
"He was in squad in November and he's a very experienced guy to bring into the squad."
Ireland will kick-off their Grand Slam defence at Croke Park on Saturday.
Ireland (revised): 15 Rob Kearney (Leinster), 14 Tommy Bowe (Ospreys), 13 Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster capt), 12 Gordon D'Arcy (Leinster), 11 Andrew Trimble (Ulster), 10 Ronan O'Gara (Munster), 9 Tomas O'Leary (Munster), 8 Jamie Heaslip (Leinster), 7 David Wallace (Munster), 6 Kevin McLaughlin (Leinster), 5 Paul O'Connell (Munster), 4 Leo Cullen (Leinster), 3 John Hayes (Munster), 2 Jerry Flannery (Munster), 1 Cian Healy (Leinster).
Replacements: 16 Rory Best (Ulster), 17 Tom Court (Ulster), 18 Donncha Ryan (Munster), 19 Sean O'Brien (Leinster), 20 Eoin Reddan (Leinster), 21 Paddy Wallace (Ulster), 22 Keith Earls (Munster).
Date: Saturday, February 6
Kick-off: 14:30
Venue: Croke Park
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees: Christophe Berdos (France), Jérôme Graces (France)
Television match official: Geoff Warren (England)
Assessor: Clayton Thomas (Wales)