Jeremy Loughman called up, while Ireland coaches pleased with Jack Conan progress

Jeremy Loughman has been called into the Ireland squad ahead of this weekend's Rugby World Cup warm-up game against England, while Jack Conan is said to be making good progress on his recovery from a foot injury.

Conan picked up the knock in the 33-17 win against Italy on 5 August, and stayed behind in Dublin last week when the Irish squad were in Portugal on a warm-weather training camp.

The Leinster number 8 is yet to return to full training with the Irish squad at their High Performance Centre in Dublin, but the Irish coaches appear to be pleased with his progress.

"He has been going really well through the week last week," Fogarty said.

Dave Kilcoyne (below) is likely to miss this Saturday's meeting with England after picking up a knock, which the Ireland scrum coach says isn't expected to be a long-term issue.

His Munster teammate Loughman has been called into the group this week as injury cover.

"To be honest, it is a pleasure to bring in Jeremy.

"I thought Munster, in the last six games, had done so well and Jeremy was part of that. He is going to add (to us).

"He had a really good session today. It's actually brilliant to be able to bring someone like Jeremy in that can add.

"Killer [Kilcoyne] is just looking after himself for the week, so Jeremy will step in with us."

Loughman had been unlucky to miss out on the original summer training squad after an impressive finish to the season with Munster.

The 28-year-old, who made his debut for Ireland against Fiji last November, returned from a long-term injury in April to start each of his province's final five games of their URC title success, overtaking Kilcoyne in the eyes of Munster head coach Graham Rowntree.

Ireland step up their World Cup preparations when they welcome