Miller Out Of Irish Squad

Leinster Lions flanker Eric Miller
has been ruled out of the opening RBS Six Nations match with France.
The 28-year-old 37-times capped Leinster star has a shoulder
injury and
will be replaced for the match in Paris on February 14 by Ulster’s
23-year-old
backrow forward Roger Wilson.

Miller made his debut for Ireland in 1997 and played one test for
the Lions
against South Africa in the victorious three test series in 1997.
The team to play France will be announced on February 10.

Meanwhile, New Zealand-born centre Tony Marsh and veteran
loosehead prop Jean-Jacques Crenca face the guillotine when head coach Bernard Laporte names a 30-man Six Nations squad on tomorrow (Tuesday).

Marsh, plagued by Achilles tendon problems, has only played three
times
since the World Cup and Laporte has not spoken to the 31-year-old
since
returning from Australia.
Marsh successfully battled back from testicular cancer to win a
place in
France’s World Cup squad but Laporte was expected to go for Damien
Traille and
Yannick Jauzion as his first-choice centres.

South African-born Brian Liebenberg, a controversial World Cup
selection,
was in thundering form for Stade Francais against Leicester in the
European
Cup last Friday and is as good as guaranteed a place in the squad.

Crenca, 34, is another player Laporte feels he no longer needs as
he looks
over the horizon to the 2007 World Cup in France.

Left wing ,b>Christophe Dominici, sin binned in the World Cup
semi-final for
tripping England wing Jason Robinson, is another player who at 32 is
unlikely
to make the cut.

Toulouse half-backs Frederic Michalak and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde
can
expect a call-up but Elissalde, who got the nod from club coaches
when the
Midi Olympique rugby weekly asked who should be France’s scrum-half,
was
expected to be on the bench for the opening Six Nations match against
Ireland
on February 14th.

Biarritz scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili, the understudy of retired
captain
Fabien Galthie all last season, should keep Laporte’s faith – at
least for
now.
Michalak’s conversion to fly-half from scrum-half has left
Toulouse
stand-off Yannick Delaigue on the bench this season too often for his
liking
and he has signed to join Castres in the summer.

European champions Toulouse will supply the lion’s share of
players.
Wing Vincent Clerc, a surprise omission from the World Cup, should
earn a
recall while 26-year-old William Servat is in line to replace the
retired
Raphael Ibanez and win a first cap as France hooker.

Veteran lock Fabien Pelous successfully came through his comeback
match
against Edinburgh in the European Cup over the weekend and will lead
the side.

“Don’t think that just because we beat Ireland in the World
Cup
quarter-finals we expect this to be easy. It’s a new a season and
Ireland have
given us a few problems in the Six Nations in the recent past,”
said the
30-year-old who has been capped 86 times.

Pelous captained France 15 times between 1997 and 2002 and took
over from
Galthie when the scrum-half was injured for the last three matches of
the 2003
Six Nations.