Out for the season.

Josh van der Flier has been ruled out for the rest of the season having picked up a knee injury in the opening match of the Six Nations on Saturday against France.

The flanker sustained a serious knee ligament injury during the match and was replaced by Dan Leavy.

In other squad news, Dave Kilcoyne has re-joined the squad while Jack O’Donoghue and Barry Daly will train with the group during the early part of this week.

Andrew Conway will continue his rehab at Munster this week and will miss the Italy game, while James Cronin has returned to Limerick in order to garner some game minutes with Munster in the Guinness Pro14 this weekend.