Luke Fitzgerald to miss entire Six Nations

Luke Fitzgerald will miss the RBS 6 Nations in its entirety after a "fairly innocuous but very unfortunate" knee ligament injury has ruled him out of action for up to the next two months.

The Leinster winger suffered the injury during an open ireland training session at the Aviva Stadium on Friday.

The 28-year-old impressed off the bench during Ireland's 43-20 defeat at the hands of Argentina in last year's World Cup quarter-final, and was in consideration to be named in boss Joe Schmidt's starting line-up against Wales.

Now though, the 34 times capped flyer will play no part in Ireland's quest to retain the Six Nations trophy for an unprecedented third year in succession.

"Luke Fitzgerald has been ruled out of the Six Nations with a medial ligament injury to his knee," said Ireland's team manager Mick Kearney.

"He is expected to be out of action for six to eight weeks and at this stage no replacement has been called in.

"He was just doing a tackling drill at the Aviva on Friday, his foot got caught in the grass.

"It was fairly innocuous but very unfortunate and he's very unlucky to be out of the Six Nations."

Ireland are already missing Ulster wing Tommy Bowe, who is a long-term casualty with knee trouble continuing to plague the 31-year-old.

At head coach Schmidt's disposal are Andrew Trimble, Dave Kearney and Keith Earls for the wing, with Simon Zebo capable of covering either as a winger or at full-back.

"He was very upset and probably feared the worst," said Mick Kearney.

"He'd had a very good injury run recently, had a great World Cup and was flying for Leinster."