Decision on Irish pair due tomorrow

Rugby: A decision on whether Jerry Flannery and Shane Horgan will join the Ireland squad in New Zealand is expected to be made…

Rugby:A decision on whether Jerry Flannery and Shane Horgan will join the Ireland squad in New Zealand is expected to be made tomorrow.

Declan Kidney’s squad arrived in Auckland minus the pair late last night and team manager Paul McNaughton said even if the outcome was favourable for both players neither would be considered for Saturday's Test against New Zealand in New Plymouth.

Flannery has yet to have a scan on the calf he injured in the loss to the Barbarians on Friday.

"Jerry is getting a scan on Tuesday morning when the injury settles down and depending on the results of that scan he may join us," said McNaughton.

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"If the scan is clear he'll be with us and he will travel on Tuesday but he won't be in consideration for this game."

Horgan is still undergoing tests for the stomach complaint which forced him to withdraw from the defeat against the Barbarians at Thomond Park.

"Shane Horgan is just continuing with some tests and again we'll make a call on bringing him out on Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest and again he won't be considered for the All Blacks game."

There was better news regarding outhalf Jonathan Sexton, who has recovered from the infection in his gum close to where he had recent surgery on his jaw, and will be available for selection for the New Plymouth showdown.

Injuries have certainly robbed Ireland of some of their best talent for the three match Australasian trip, which also includes a match against New Zealand Maori and a Test against Australia in Brisbane.

The absent include British and Irish Lions skipper Paul O'Connell, Rory Best, Keith Earls, Kevin McLaughlin, Fergus McFadden, Luke Fitzgerald and Denis Leamy.

But backs coach Alan Gaffney was confident the players remaining would rise to the challenge of ending Ireland's losing streak against the All Blacks which stretches back over a hundred years.

"It was always going to be tough, but it's probably a touch tougher again," the Australian conceded.

"But we are still confident with the squad we have out here at the present time. We're coming out here confident in our abilities but it's going to be a tough day at the office obviously and we fully understand that."

However, he added: "We've come out here with what I still consider to be a strong squad even though we've left a lot of guys at home with injuries.

"That depth has been developed over a number of years now and is still going forward as far as we're concerned.

"There are a lot of young boys in their 20s now making their mark and could even be in consideration in 15 months time.

"It's started to make Ireland much more competitive when we suffer these injuries and we can replace them with very strong players."

New Zealand have suffered a similar bad run of injuries to key players with wing Sitiveni Sivivatu, inside centre Ma'a Nonu, hooker Andrew Hore and lock Ali Williams just some of the senior players not available to All Blacks coach Graham Henry.

But Gaffney stopped short of saying it left the hosts vulnerable.

He said: "We've both gone through fairly traumatic periods as far as that's concerned but they are always a very difficult side to beat. The All Blacks squad is still very, very strong and we understand that.

"Whoever they put out there in (jerseys) one to 22 at the weekend they'll be a good bar.

"We've got no doubt about the fact they will be missing some of their top flight and top quality players but the guys replacing them have been in pretty good form."