Another man down for the summer tour to New Zealand

Declan Kidney will be forced to dig deep into Irish rugby resources after yet another body was ruled out of the summer tour to New Zealand.

The IRFU last night confirmed that Leinster scrum-half Isaac Boss would not be making the trip to his native land because of a persistent thigh problem that ruled him out of the latter stages of the season.

Boss’ potential absence had been foreseen by the Irish management, who named four AN Others in the original squad in an attempt to give Boss, Tom Court, Chris Henry and Paul O’Connell every chance to prove their fitness before the long trek to the southern hemisphere.

With Boss ruled out, Ulster scrum half Paul Marshall is the favourite to take his place on the plane to New Zealand and, worryingly, there could be a few more places up for grabs if Ireland’s growing contingent of walking wounded don’t recover fast.

Paul O’Connell is currently undergoing rehab on a knee injury in London, with reports suggesting that he will fly out two days later than the rest of the squad to further his chances of recovery.

Mike Ross, a crucial cog in the Irish front row, suffered a minor hamstring tear in the Rabo12 final at the weekend but is expected to make it in time, as is his Leinster teammate Sean O’Brien, who underwent knee surgery last week and had to sit out Sunday’s final at the RDS.

Having already been deprived of the services of Stephen Ferris, Tommy Bowe, Luke Fitzgerald, Felix Jones, Ireland can ill-afford to suffer any more casualties ahead of their departure to New Zealand on Thursday, as beating the All Blacks is a tough enough task at full strength, never mind with half a team.

On that note, Kidney will be praying that his experimental XV comes through tonight’s encounter against the Barbarians unscathed, although he might want to cover a few of them in bubble wrap just in case.