Ireland captain Keith Wood admitted he has little chance of being fit to face England in the Six Nations at Twickenham on February 16th.
Wood's calf injury has kept him on the sidelines since before Christmas and he missed yesterday's 54-10 win over Wales at Lansdowne Road.
The hooker has been ruled out of Harlequins' friendly with Natal Sharks tomorrow night, as well as their league match at Bath on Saturday.
Wood said: "The England game is going to be a real cracker now, but I've a very slim chance and it doesn't look like I'll win this particular one.
"I'll do whatever I can to get there to have some involvement, but it just hasn't responded, which is very frustrating."
Wood's calf was put in plaster by medical staff this week to immobilise the problem muscle in a bid to speed up the recovery process.
"There's no pain when you see a fantastic performance like that," he said. "We played very well and Wales played very poorly."
Wood singled out his replacement at hooker, Frank Sheahan, for special praise and paid tribute to his regular front-row partners Peter Clohessy and John Hayes.
"I have to give a special mention for Frankie because he would have been under a lot of pressure this week. I thought he had a very, very good game.
"He threw well, he snaffled a lot of ball on the ground and I was very, very happy for him."
Wood added: "The Claw (Peter Clohessy) was just fantastic.
"He did more carries I'd say than he's ever done in his entire life and John Hayes was excellent as well.
"He never carries the ball, ever, but he was sprinting with it.
"His defence was superb, he kept stopping them in their tracks and the pair's involvement in Geordan Murphy's try was magnificent." - PA