Uncapped utility forward Ryan Woodman has been added to Wales’ squad for their Guinness Six Nations tussle against Ireland in Dublin on Friday (8.10pm, live on RTÉ) along with prop Keiron Assiratti.
The 22-year-old Woodman from Dragons comes in to replace Ospreys lock Rhys Davies and Scarlets back-rower Taine Plumtree, who have both been ruled out for the remainder of the tournament through injury.
Former Wales under-20s captain Woodman has previously trained with the senior squad.
Cardiff tighthead Assiratti is back after being named in the original squad for this year’s competition but withdrew when he picked up a calf injury before the first match against England.
Wales are also waiting on the fitness of out-half Sam Costelow before they travel to Dublin looking for their first win in 15 Six Nations games.
Meanwhile, Ireland yesterday called in Bundee Aki, Robbie Henshaw and Jimmy O’Brien to their squad, while Harry Byrne was ruled out with concussion.
Scotland loose forward Jack Dempsey (above) could be back in Six Nations action this weekend, much quicker than anticipated, after injury left his chances of playing in the rest of this year’s competition in doubt.
Dempsey suffered a bicep injury in Scotland’s 31-20 victory over England at Murrayfield on 14 February and missed the 26-23 win away against Wales in Cardiff one week later.
Scotland coach Gregor Townsend said the 31-year-old Dempsey was unlikely to play any further part in this year’s Six Nations, where the team face France at Murrayfield in a top-of-the-table clash on Saturday and then complete their campaign away against Ireland on 14 March.
However, Dempsey returned to training with Scotland on Friday, his Glasgow Warriors coach Franco Smith revealed, heightening his chances of a quick return.
“It’s gone well,” Smith said when asked about the injury to the Australian-born number eight after Glasgow lost 15-10 to Connacht in Galway in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday.
“I don’t know if you’ve had any news from Scotland, he’s obviously now in their books. But he got called into camp yesterday, apparently he trained already with them yesterday, so that’s good.
“That obviously tested the fitness and I’m quite excited to know that that injury is manageable,” he added.
Dempsey, a former Australia international, has been a Scotland regular since his switch of allegiance in 2022 and played for them at the last Rugby World Cup in France.
Elsewhere, England centre Ollie Lawrence appears unlikely to recover from a knee injury in time for Saturday’s tie with Italy in Rome.
Lawrence has been left out of a 36-man squad that will step up preparations for the Stadio Olimpico showdown but will continue his rehabilitation at England’s training base.
The Bath player had an injection on the damaged joint last week but now looks set to miss the penultimate assignment of the Six Nations.
The same knee injury ruled him out of the first three rounds and he only made his comeback in last Saturday’s 42-21 demolition by Ireland.
Tommy Freeman is the leading contender to replace him at outside centre in a positional shift from the wing, with Henry Slade also an option.
Additional reporting: PA