Andrew Trimble picked up the injury during Ulster's Heineken Cup matchwin over Aironi on Saturday and follwoing an X-ray today, it was found that he had broken a metacarpal in his hand.

This will definitely keep him out of the Italy game and he will have a specialist review this week to determine how long he will be unable to play for.

In other injury news, both Stephen Ferris and Tommy Bowe underwent scans on knee problems and an update on their progress will be available in the next 24 hours.

The Ireland squad and management are in Limerick this week for a training camp, as they build towards the Championship opener against Italy on Saturday week.