Management spoiled for choice as a new dawn looms and Ireland look to secure a place in the top eight in the world rankings

RARELY HAS there been such acute interest in the announcement of an Irish team selection. It comes with the territory of a new coaching regime, all the more so at the start of a new season.

At face value, a Canadian team in the process of rebuilding would look like a rare chance to look at one or two longer-term options. Were the Canucks second in the November schedule, were there no immediate demand for results to preserve a top-eight world ranking, and had the coaching ticket already positioned their feet under the table, the scope for flexibility would be even greater.

But none of that applies. The new ticket have been busily trying to introduce new lineout calls, new defensive calls and new attacking strategies. And while doing them in training is one thing, there is nothing like the real thing.

In any event, the safest starting point would appear to be the retention of the Munster tight five en bloc, although it will be a tight call at hooker, where Rory Best is technically the incumbent.

Backrow and the back three are the big calls, where Kidney and co are perming three from seven and three from eight. David Wallace, as he showed in his vintage display against Sale, and Jamie Heaslip, would seemingly have to be accommodated somewhere. Given the increased competitiveness and number of turnovers at the tackle/breakdown area, the argument for including Shane Jennings, as well as Wallace, is all the more compelling given the looming presence of Richie McCaw and co at Croke Park next Saturday week.

Were Alan Quinlan to be the victim of circumstances again, it would be tough on him. But Denis Leamy's continuing presence in the squad after a full week's training, and his try-scoring, 68-minute stint for Cork Constitution, suggests a desire by the management to work him into their plans.

Scrumhalf will mean another tough call for Kidney regarding one of three scrumhalves whom he has coached at Munster. Eoin Reddan is the man in situ and would most likely revel in a break from Wasps' current travails, while Tomás O'Leary has effectively usurped Peter Stringer at Munster on both Kidney's and Tony McGahan's watch. The natural conclusion must be therefore that Kidney's most difficult conversation will be with Ireland's most capped number nine of all time.

Omitting Paddy Wallace would be a tough call too, given he did little wrong and plenty right in Ireland's summer Tests in New Zealand and Australia, and is playing probably the best rugby of his career. But the Brian O'Driscoll-Luke Fitzgerald midfield combination was the original partnership of choice last summer and it has since coincided with a return to form by the Great One.

Besides, Fitzgerald's improved physicality and defence (helped by his wondrous footwork) have stood up well in midfield and otherwise it would be three from nine in the outside backs. Here, the permutations are endless. More than ever, the outside three are now a combination. They defend or counter, either through the hand or feet, as units, sliding across the pitch to cover one another. Their influence on games has become even more profound under the combined effects of the ELVs and the more stringent IRB diktat regarding players staying on their feet at breakdowns. Aerial ping-pong, with an emphasis on precise kicking, has abounded.

Perceived wisdom has it Rob Kearney must play at fullback, where he stood out so superbly in the two summer Tests. But he has played mostly on the wing this season, and his performance against Wasps showed that his catching brilliance and counter-running or kicking can almost be as influential on the wing as at fullback. His huge left boot would add to the balance of a back three, wherever it is accommodated.

Furthermore, selecting him on the wing would allow Ireland to pick one of three other fullbacks who are all playing superbly. That said, when it came to the more acute demands and angles of Edgeley Park's tighter confines, McGahan opted for Paul Warwick's more developed kicking game. Keith Earls is an exceptional and rare talent, but it could be that the management will take the view that in the early stages of what is effectively his rookie season, another four Heineken Cup rounds and a handful of Magners League games will have him better primed for the Six Nations.

Given the pressing need for results, they could well go for Girvan Dempsey, whose form has been as good as ever. However, though he's scarcely been mentioned in dispatches, in seven starts for Leicester this season, a rejuvenated Geordan Murphy has set up tries as their playmaker in chief and scored three himself. With his eye for space and decision-making about when to kick or counter-attack, the new rules seem to suit him. Not since the New Zealand Tests in '06 has Murphy played back-to-back matches for Ireland at fullback and it would be interesting to see him play for a coach with whom he enjoys a good relationship.

Tommy Bowe's form suggests he has revelled in an environment surrounded by stars and Seán Holley says he is one of the first names on the Ospreys teamsheet. But Shane Horgan showed clear signs of a return to form in Leinster's Heineken Cup outings and, aside from being a team leader, he is a proven big-game player.

Having failed to make Munster's Euro 22, Tony Buckley would be somewhat fortunate to earn a place on the bench strictly on form, and likewise Mick O'Driscoll. While Munster have preferred Donncha Ryan on the premise that there is a higher attrition rate in the backrow, the Irish management might take the view that he is still too callow to play against the All Blacks. Similarly, Ryan Caldwell has yet to convince, temperamentally, he is ready for such a task, whereas the time has surely come to invest in Johnny Sexton as badly needed back-up to Ronan O'Gara.

Thus, the team might read: Horan, Flannery, Hayes, O'Callaghan, O'Connell, Wallace, Jennings, Heaslip; Reddan, O'Gara, Kearney, O'Driscoll, Fitzgerald, Bowe, Murphy. Bench: Best, Buckley, O'Driscoll, Leamy, O'Leary, Sexton, Horgan.

Then again, it could be out by up to half a dozen.

It will be interesting, more so than for some time.