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Ireland scrum-half Peter Stringer was a fresh injury concern last night as Ulster scrum-half Isaac Boss was put on stand-by for the historic clash against Italy at Ravenhill tonight.
Munster star Stringer suffered a back spasm during training and Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan - already without Brian O'Driscoll, Shane Horgan, David Wallace and Stephen Ferris for the final World Cup warm-up match - will be taking no risks.
"Peter Stringer has a back spasm which usually works its way out but we will see how it goes," said O'Sullivan.
"To be honest, at this stage, anyone who is in any doubt will be taken out rather than risk them. I am reasonably confident that he will come through but we will err on the safe side with him.
"If that were to happen there would be no issue really, Isaac would jump in to start and Eoin Reddan would be on the bench.
"We will know more by the morning, he just gets these back spasms now and again and it is just a question of managing them."
Ireland make their first appearance at Ravenhill for 53 years tonight and stand-in captain Paul O'Connell is determined that his side depart for France with a bang.
"We have had a great week up here," said O'Connell. "The weather has been great, the hotel has been great and the training facilities at Campbell College have been great.
"Monday and Tuesday were two of the best sessions we have had in a while. The mindset is very good. It is a home fixture and the guys are really looking forward to it and getting off to a good start heading off to the World Cup."
The midfield combination of Gordon D'Arcy and Andrew Trimble, deputising for O'Driscoll at outside centre, will be one of the intriguing sub-plots tonight. O'Sullivan is looking forward to seeing how it gels.
" At this stage it is not about first, second or third choice issues," added O'Sullivan. "It is about looking at different options, if things happen in a tournament where a guy misses a game.
"To be honest I was hoping this week that we would have had a clean bill of health and everyone would front up and the odds are that I would have probably started the team that started against England. But like every coach in my position is finding at the moment in the warm-up games, they are picking up bumps and bruises and we are erring on the safe side with players.
"The advantage of that is the chance to tinker with combinations. We have done that in the back row over the last couple of weeks and we are doing it in the centre this week because Brian is out and Andrew is jumping in there.
"At this stage I am pretty clear in my mind where we are with all the players but it does not harm to look at things slightly differently when the opportunity arises."
