Andy Farrell has added 12 players to his squad ahead of the Ireland A clash with the All Blacks XV on Friday and the Test meeting with South Africa the following day.
The dozen will all likely be involved in the Friday night clash at the RDS Arena, with Munster's Tom Ahern, as expected, ruled out through injury.
The good news for Farrell is that his frontliners continue to prepare for the visit of the Springboks, the reigning world champs, with Tadhg Furlong, Jamison Gibson-Park and Hugo Keenan getting closer to full fitness ahead of the Aviva tie and they will continue their preparations at the IRFU's high performance centre in Abbotstown.
READ MORE: Enough of the pigeonholing, says Conor Murray - as he rediscovers his spirit of adventure
There are 49 players in camp in total, with Farrell naming an initial squad of 37 last week.
Diarmuid Barron, Caolin Blade, Jack Crowley, Shane Daly, Max Deegan, James Hume, Dave Kilcoyne, Marty Moore and Scott Penny all came through the weekend’s URC action without issue to join the squad.
Jamie Osborne and Roman Salanoa have both been declared fit after completing the return to play protocols, while Connacht lock Gavin Thornbury has been called up in place of Ahern.
Nathan Doak and Tom Stewart, who both featured in the Emerging Ireland side in Bloemfontein, will also join the squad later in the week.
Meanwhile, the Boks have delayed the call-up of winger Sbu Nkosi and flank Marco van Staden as they await scans following rib injuries suffered in the Bulls' victory over the Sharks in the URC on Sunday.
Boks' director of rugby Rassie Erasmus said: “We’ll wait for the outcome of their medical scans and once we know how serious it is we’ll decide if they will join the squad and if so, when.
"Fortunately, we have sufficient cover at loose forward and among the outside backs to allow us to train fully and select a quality team.”
Cheslin Kolbe was to join the squad this morning following Toulon’s 27-26 defeat to Bordeaux on Sunday night.
The world champs endured a five-hour delay on their flight from Johannesburg to Dubai which meant it was late on Sunday night before they arrived in Dublin.
That caused Erasmus and head coach Jacques Nienaber, who previously worked together at Munster, to make some minor adjustments to the Boks schedule - but thanks to another former Reds coach Felix Jones being on the ground in Dublin, they were able to train today.
The Springboks' team for the clash will be named on Tuesday.
“We were very fortunate that Felix joined the squad on Sunday as he had a golden opportunity to work with the DHL Stormers and overseas-based players on some detail while the rest of us were travelling,” said Nienaber.
“We allowed the players additional recovery time on Monday morning to ensure that they are fresh when we take the field in our afternoon training session so we can leap straight into the thick of things.
“This is a massive Test for us as Ireland are the number one team in the world and we are also facing them in the pool stages of next year’s Rugby World Cup, so every minute of preparation time on and off the field counts.”
Erasmus added: “We are pleased to be in Dublin, and thanks to the swift planning from our operations team following the announcement that our flight to Dubai was delayed and the resultant longer layover in Dubai, we were able to ensure that the players remained as comfortable as possible throughout the journey.
“The entire squad with the exception of the injured players and Cheslin reported for duty in Dublin on Sunday night and despite a few changes to our programme, we have a full training day on Monday.”
READ NEXT:
David Clifford hails Tony Griffin influence as Kerry star named Footballer of the Year
TG4 viewing figures for Sacar na mBan to break through the half million mark tonight
'It could be mental' - Shels' Jess Gargan on the WNL title shoot-out with Wexford Youths
Kellie Harrington opens up on retirement plans on RTE's The Late Late Show
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts
