Ireland have brought in Rob Herring for injured hooker Dan Sheehan for Saturday's huge Six Nations clash with France, who named an unchanged line-up.
Sheehan started nine of Ireland's past 10 matches, but a hamstring injury sees him drop out for the match at the Aviva Stadium in a possible title and Grand Slam showdown.
Herring will deputise for Sheehan, while Conor Murray has been passed fit to continue his half-back partnership with captain Johnny Sexton, who was himself a fitness doubt.
"It's not nice for Dan," Ireland head coach Andy Farrell said on Thursday. "He's a fantastic player at the top of his game. Anyone would miss a player in that kind of form.
"I sound like a broken record, but it's great because this is exactly what's going to happen down the track in the World Cup.
"International rugby is only going to get bigger and better so it's always going to be about the squad.
"When you get to the World Cup, you've a small squad. There's rightly a 12-day turnaround as far as concussions are concerned, so you're always going to be numbers down."
Jamison Gibson-Park, Tadhg Furlong and Cian Healy all missed Ireland's opening 34-10 win over Wales and remain out of the matchday 23 to face France.
Ireland, who finished second to France in last year's tournament, are ranked number one in the world and have won 21 of their past 22 home games, including each of the past 12.
They host a France side on a 14-match winning run – their best ever streak – most recently overcoming Italy 29-24 in a tight contest last weekend.
Fabien Galthie has stuck with the same XV that started the game in Rome, meaning Romain Ntamack is retained at number 10, despite Matthieu Jalibert's impact from the bench.
Francois Cros returns to the replacements' bench as one of two changes, along with Baptiste Couilloud, with Thomas Lavault and Nolann Le Garrec dropping out.
"Firstly, we have gone with the same personnel due to the performance [against Italy], the victory with a bonus point, which meant they achieved their target," Galthie said.
"Coherence, too, as it is three weeks that we have worked with this group.
"And also confidence because we have confidence in our players who for three years have progressed together; that is why there are no surprises in the starting XV."
France have won each of their past three meetings with Ireland, this after winning just one of their previous nine Test encounters (D2 L6).
Girona 0-1 Villarreal: Traore strike lifts Yellow Submarine
Bertrand Traore's goal gave Villarreal a 1-0 win at Girona on Tuesday that prevented the hosts from reclaiming second spot in LaLiga.
Girona, who have enjoyed a superb campaign, are third with 75 points, trailing Barcelona, who moved a point clear with a 2-0 home win over Real Sociedad on Monday.
Alexander Sorloth and Goncalo Guedes went close for Villarreal in the first half, but Girona goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga was in fine form.
Traore broke the deadlock in the 59th minute after latching on to a superb pass from Guedes, however.
Viktor Tsyhankov, Savio and Artem Dovbyk all went close for Girona, but could not find the back of Filip Jorgensen's net.
Villarreal were reduced to 10 men in the 95th minute after Kiko Femenia was sent off for a second yellow card after a push on Aleix Garcia.
Data Debrief: Rare home loss for Girona
Girona have suffered only their second defeat at Montilivi in LaLiga this season, following a 0-3 loss to Real Madrid in September.
The home side attempted 749 passes in this game, their highest total in a single match in LaLiga this season.
Real Madrid 5-0 Alaves: Vinicius double continues LaLiga champions party
Vinicius Junior scored twice as newly-crowned LaLiga champions Real Madrid thrashed visitors Alaves 5-0 on Tuesday, after the hosts had paraded the trophy in front of the home fans before the game.
Jude Bellingham and Vinicius scored a goal each inside 30 minutes before Federico Valverde put Los Blancos 3-0 up at the break, unleashing an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net in first-half stoppage time.
Vinicius added one more in the 70th minute from a precise cross by Bellingham that the Brazilian fired into the top corner, and substitute Arda Guler completed the scoring with a low finish.
Carlo Ancelotti's side travel to Villarreal on Sunday before hosting Real Betis on May 25 ahead of their Champions League final against Borussia Dortmund on June 1.
Having thrashed Granada 4-0 on Saturday and Cadiz 3-0, either side of their Champions League semi-final victory over Bayern, Real are firing on all fronts heading into the Wembley Stadium showpiece.
Meanwhile, Alavez remain 11th in the table heading into their next game against Getafe at home on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Madrid capitalise on opportunities
Madrid found the back of the net five times from just 2.47 expected goals (xG), suggesting Los Blancos' finishing quality was far greater than Alaves' 1.28 xG.
Ancelotti's side have now kept 20 clean sheets in 36 LaLiga games this campaign, their most in a single season in the competition's history (19 in the 1986-87, 1987-88 and 2019-20 seasons).
Gauff sets up Swiatek semi-final meeting after downing Zheng in Rome
Coco Gauff will have the chance to down world number one Iga Swiatek after progressing to the Italian Open semi-finals with Tuesday's victory over Qinwen Zheng.
The 20-year-old breezed into the last-four draw in Rome after her straight-sets victory over Zheng, winning 7-6 (7-4) 6-1.
Gauff faced just one break point throughout the match, failing to hold her serve at 5-3 up as seven-seed Zhen battled back in the first set.
Yet Gauff eased through the tie-break and never looked back from there on, teeing up a meeting with Swiatek, who overcame Madison Keys in straight sets in her quarter-final clash.
Data Debrief: Young Gauff powers on
No player has won more matches than Gauff (61) in WTA-1000 events before turning 21, since the introduction of the format in 2009, as the American moved past Caroline Wozniacki (60) with victory here.
Wozniacki (eight) is also the only player to manage more WTA-1000 semi-final appearances before her 21th birthday, with Gauff's last-four qualification here taking her onto six – one ahead of Swiatek.
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