Geordan Murphy, David Wallace and Simon Best sat out today's training in Capbreton as Eddie O'Sullivan's Ireland squad continued their warm weather training camp ahead of the forthcoming World Cup.
Murphy is still suffering the effects of a dead leg picked up in last weekend's match in Murrayfield while Wallace is still troubled by an ankle problem and Best had a minor back spasm.
Temperatures in south west France reached the high 20s as the rest of the squad were put through their paces in glorious sunshine in advance of Thursday's challenge match against Bayonne, which is understood to be a 15,000 sell-out.
The team for that match will be announced tomorrow afternoon with O'Sullivan expected to use more of his front line players than featured at the weekend.
"The game gives us a chance to get more game time for the squad which is what we need, so I would expect to get as many of the players who did not feature against Scotland on the park at some stage," he said.
"Teams in this part of the world take their rugby very seriously and in front of what is expected to be a full house, we expect to get a tough game".
Having sat out the defeat to Scotland, Gordon D'Arcy is one player who should be involved come Thursday and is looking forward to his first run out since the end of last year's campaign.
"Today's session was full on and guys are very keen to be involved in the game on Thursday," the Leinster centre said. "For a lot of us it may be our first hit out of the season, so the intensity was really high".
"It's great to be able to train in these sorts of conditions as
it gives us the chance to get a lot or work done without worrying
about rain or the weather affecting what we do," he added. It
also gives us some idea of what we will be
encountering when we get into the tournament."
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