Captain Wood will stand by Quins

Keith Wood reappeared in his familiar role as captain and hooker of Ireland yesterday with a promise to stay with Harlequins, for better or worse. The Quins' skipper will not jump ship, even though the threat of relegation from the Premiership grew more serious with Sunday's 43-27 defeat at Bristol.

Wood, who returns after a calf injury to attempt to stop France winning the Grand Slam in Paris on Saturday, has a year left on his Quins' contract.

What he had to say on the subject from the tranquillity of Ireland's base in the Wicklow hills will provide some cheer for the longest-suffering supporters in the English game.

Wood said: 'I will be playing for Quins next season, carrying on regardless. If they go down then I want to be there when they come back up again.

'I have to make certain that I am still able to play for Ireland but whatever happens, I consider myself to be a Harlequin and I do not want to leave.' The international futures of his English colleagues, Will Greenwood, Jason Leonard, Dan Luger and Nick Duncombe, would inevitably be affected by relegation as Wood acknowledged. 'That could be a problem,' he said. 'There are lots of discussions going on.' After missing all four of Ireland's previous matches, Wood replaces Leinster hooker Shane Byrne, with another Lion, Rob Henderson, renewing his centre partnership with Brian O'Driscoll after six weeks on the casualty list.

For France, tighthead Pieter de Villiers reclaimes his place from Jean-Baptiste Poux.

IRELAND: G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, R Henderson, D Hickie; D Humphreys, P Stringer, P Clohessy, K Wood (capt), J Hayes, G Longwell, M O'Kelly; S Easterby, A Foley, D Wallace.
Subs: S Byrne, P Wallace, P O'Connell, K Gleeson, G Easterby, R O'Gara, J Kelly.