Rugby:Leo Cullen will be out of action for between six and eight weeks after it was decided by Irish management that he would undergo an operation today on both his Achilles tendons.

The Leinster secondrow was hopeful of managing the injury through the rest of the season, but today’s decision will see him out of action until at least the second week of March.

That would still leave Ireland’s Six Nations encounters at home to Scotland (March 10th) and the away trip to Twickenham on St Patrick’s Day.

An eight-week absence would rule him out of the full Six Nations, with Leinster’s Heineken Cup quarter-final clash at home to Cardiff Blues the next target for the province’s captain.

Munster backrow James Coughlan has been called into the Irish senior squad in place of Cullen for their training camp in Limerick.