Rugby Six Nations Championship - Ireland v Italy:  Time was when an Irish win over England would probably have ensured the team's starting places for the rest of the season. Were England the world champions and unbeaten at Twickenham for over four years, the starting XV might reasonably have expected the caps to roll until retirement.Times have changed though.

Slightly surprisingly, Geordan Murphy has been fast-tracked back into the team to play Italy on Saturday after just three club games since breaking his leg against Scotland in a World Cup warm-up match last September at the expense of Tyrone Howe.

Howe has done little wrong in the first three games of the Six Nations Championship, running in a try with a good support "trailer" off a Gordon D'Arcy half break and offload against France, and his best performance of the three was against England.

It would have been easy enough for coach Eddie O'Sullivan to leave his starting line-up well enough alone, and perhaps accommodate Murphy's versatility and world-class attacking ability on the bench, but the change on the left wing says far more about Murphy's ability than it does about Howe's form.

"He's a bloody good footballer, but it's a tough call actually because Tyrone has played very well," said O'Sullivan. "Geordan is back there now, he's played well in his three matches, his confidence is back, he's trained very well, so he's good to go really. That's the way selections work, you've got to try and get your best combinations on the field . . . The tough part was leaving Tyrone out."

The cruelty of Murphy's pre-World Cup injury, after finally cementing his place in the team with an excellent Six Nations campaign, may have contributed to O'Sullivan's eagerness to have him restored. Though he has played in all back-line positions for Ireland bar scrumhalf since then, full back is undoubtedly his most effective position.

Explaining his preference for moving Murphy to the wing, O'Sullivan noted Murphy has played there before, while Girvan Dempsey's improving form culminated in a fine performance in Twickenham.

"Geordan brings another dimension obviously, he's a very good attacking player, and once you get past first phase, or even at first phase, there's nothing wrong with flipping them around. It's just getting your best combinations really, and whether Geordan or Girvan drop into wing or full back when in attack doesn't matter."

The other changes see two other players back from relatively short-term injuries, Marcus Horan and Donncha O'Callaghan, return to the bench at the exclusion of two more Ulster players, Simon Best and Gary Longwell. It is hard to quibble with either of those selections, although the relevance of the Celtic League is perhaps put in perspective, given the current leaders now only have David Humphreys on the bench.

This is not unique, and happened during the World Cup against Namibia, but if one counts Kieron Dawson as an Ulsterman in abstentia at London Irish, next Saturday is reckoned to be the first time in a Five/Six Nations game no Ulster player will be in the starting line-up.

Allowing for Neil McMillan last season, and Roger Wilson and Neil Best this season with Andy Ward in the back row, and to an extent Paddy Wallace, perhaps it is also a commentary on the relative dearth of home-grown players coming through Ulster's ranks amid a surfeit of recent Southern Hemisphere imports.

One of the greats of Ulster, Irish and Lions rugby, Willie John McBride, will see his all-time record for an Irish second-row of 63 caps equalled by Malcolm O'Kelly on Saturday. As the modest O'Kelly would be the first to admit, he has raced to the tally in under seven seasons, whereas McBride accumulated his haul over 14 seasons. But if Willie John was the standard-bearer for Irish locks in the amateur era, then O'Kelly is in the pro era.

The only injury concern, Peter Stringer, who damaged a hand against England, has been passed fit. "He got the cast off on Monday and he was better than we expected, and he took a full part in training," said O'Sullivan.

O'Sullivan acknowledges different pressures apply for this game, as favourites at home against the Azzurri in the aftermath of beating the world champions.

"Italy are always a team I worry about playing," admitted O'Sullivan who repeated his oft-held assertion they are the most physical side in the championship. "It's a different type of pressure now, but those expectations on the team are expectations you create by performing at a certain level so it's the pressure we put on ourselves now to deliver a good professional performance."

Last week's three-day mini-camp and a week's respite before this match helped the Irish squad draw a line under the win over England. "They all realise there's only six inches between a pat on the back and a kick in the ass.

"I'm pretty confident our heads are in the right place at this moment in time."

IRELAND: G Dempsey (Leinster); S Horgan (Leinster), G D'Arcy (Leinster), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), G Murphy (Leicester); R O'Gara (Munster), P Stringer (Munster); R Corrigan (Leinster), S Byrne (Leinster), J Hayes (Munster), M O'Kelly (Leinster), P O'Connell (Munster), S Easterby (Llanelli), K Gleeson (Leinster), A Foley (Munster). Replacements: F Sheahan (Munster), M Horan (Munster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), V Costello (Leinster), G Easterby (Rotherham), D Humphreys (Ulster), K Maggs (Bath).

Not considered due to injury: Rob Henderson (Munster), D Hickie (Leinster), A Horgan (Munster), E Miller (Leinster), M Mullins (Munster), A Quinlan (Munster).