RUGBY/Ireland squad selections:As expected, Eddie O'Sullivan yesterday dug deeper into Ireland's playing resources than at any time in the country's rugby history when announcing the 30-man squad for the two-Test tour to Argentina and the 28-man Irish A squad for the Churchill Cup.
The decision to rest his frontline 15 players, ie the team that started against England in Croke Park, makes utter sense; O'Sullivan explaining yesterday that it will allow them four weeks' holidays, a nine-week pre-season and then a five-week run-in to the World Cup. It will also reduce the risk of injury to key players while not showing Argentina, Ireland's World Cup pool rivals, their full hand.
Thus the squad to tour Argentina has seven new caps although it still has a reasonably strong look to it in certain areas, but one of the ripple effects is that due to taking an experimental approach to the Churchill Cup, the Irish A squad to play Canada and the might of the New Zealand Maoris is unnervingly callow.
Amongst the seven new caps, as expected also, is the bolter from Munster, recently converted former Britain Rugby League winger Brian Carney. "Brian has done well for Munster since his arrival and has earned a call into the squad. He has moved across from league without too much disruption to his game and I thought this was a good time to move him onto the next level and see how he performs."
Another bolter is Gavin Duffy, having returned from the obscurity of the Harlequins' bench to his native Connacht in recent months. The biggest loser, as a result, is Leinster's talented utility back Luke Fitzgerald, who despite starting against the Pacific Islands last November, has been rerouted to the Churchill Cup after starting only one competitive game for Leinster since January. It's still a surprising fall for the youngster.
With John Hayes and Marcus Horan among those rested, the relatively shallowness of Ireland's props has also been exposed, and two of the new caps are Peter Bracken and Tony Buckley, who recently made a U-turn on a decision to join Bath when Munster offered him a two-year contract and has been rewarded for "a bit of good form recently", according to O'Sullivan.
Although the Pumas will be greatly weakened themselves by the clash with the last full round of the French Championship and the semi-finals, and have 12 props registered in France, if Buckley, particularly, plays in either Test in Argentina, he is liable to be exposed to a level of scrummaging he has never encountered before.
The remaining uncapped players are Shane Jennings, Rob Kearney, Barry Murphy and Tomás O'Leary. There are also anticipated recalls for the unlucky Alan Quinlan, Leo Cullen and Malcolm O'Kelly, while the squad will be captained by Simon Best.
"There were some tough calls, especially in the backrow, although there's nothing new there," said O'Sullivan who admits to being concerned about the broken thumb which Jeremy Staunton sustained three weeks ago in a game for Wasps A and were he not to play again before the end of the season that could jeopardise his chances of travelling, especially as his likeliest comeback game would be the Heineken European Cup final itself.
"This tour was always about looking at options with the World Cup in mind. It is an opportunity for players to put their cases forward for France and in doing so allowed us to rest the majority of the Six Nations squad.
"Argentina is always a tough place to tour and this will be no different. It gives us the chance to look at players in a pressurised Test match environment and as well as some experienced players, there are also some new prospects there who will benefit from the experience."
O'Sullivan intends naming a squad of 45 for the two planned pre-season trips to Poland and the World Cup warm-up matches against Scotland in Murrayfield on August 11th and Italy in Ravenhill on August 17th, although he admits World Cup rules may oblige him to whittle down his nominated squad for the French jamboree in between those two matches.
With a further 10 players ruled out of consideration through injury, there are a host of eye-catching inclusions in the Churchill Cup squad. The only other internationals apart from the once-capped Fitzgerald are Johnny O'Connor and Roger Wilson, with Connacht hooker John Fogarty named as captain. His back-up will be the Shannon hooker SeáCronin, who is 21 next week and has yet to play for Munster, while Leinster's Brian Blaney has been overlooked.
There are another nine players in this squad who would be considered fringe provincial players or academy or development players. For example, the likes of Ryan Caldwell and Devin Toner have been picked ahead of Bob Casey, once again ignored, while the raft of relatively untried centres or outside backs are picked ahead of Mossy Lawlor and Iain Dowling, a European Cup winner.
"It's an opportunity to give experience to players who might not get this kind of opportunity otherwise," explained O'Sullivan, adding: "there are players who are on our radar and have not been picked but we know what we're getting with them. It will be tough for them (the A squad) but it will be a good opportunity for them."
The team will be coached by Connacht's Michael Bradley with Ulster's Allen Clarke as his assistant, and will play three games during the tournament, kicking off against Canada on May 19th before playing what is in effect a New Zealand thirds team, brimful of Super 14 and NPC players, 10 days later.
