RUGBY/Six Nations:The sun was shining, the coach and players were singing like canaries in their Killiney Castle base, the prevailing mood was almost palpably excitable and the magnitude of the media pack was further evidence of how the good times are rolling for Irish rugby. Now comes the hard part.
Rarely, and certainly never in living memory, has an Irish team entered the Six Nations with the mantle of favouritism weighing so heavily on their shoulders, but in some respects Eddie O'Sullivan's opening selection underlined why this is so.
Strictly by the book, there are 11 changes from the 61-17 win over the Pacific Islands in Ireland's most recent outing, but the most relevant comparison is with the opening selection of the November series, the 32-15 win over South Africa, and unsurprisingly this starting selection bears a very close resemblance to that one. Of the two changes from that particular game, one is enforced, with Shane Horgan's injury paving the way for Denis Hickie's latest recall, while Simon Easterby's form has earned him a recall ahead of Neil Best at blindside flanker.
Hickie, admittedly, did start, and scored tries in both of the subsequent November wins over Australia and the Pacific Islands, a game in which Easterby also started and scored a brace of tries.
In essence, there were three selectorial bones of contention for O'Sullivan and his back-up staff to consider, namely hooker, blindside and the composition of the outside three. At hooker, somewhat surprisingly, O'Sullivan maintained the choice of Rory Best as starting number two was fairly straightforward, whereas the closer call was between Jerry Flannery and Frankie Sheahan on the bench, one that "was the difficult call".
The call for Easterby makes abundant sense, not least because the Llanelli captain's proven lineout abilities at the tail gives Ireland the best option there. "That was a factor, his run of form was a factor, and I suppose to be honest the fact we are playing Wales was a factor," admitted O'Sullivan. "He's very highly thought of in Wales and he knows the Welsh boys as well as they know themselves. It comes down to minutiae when you're talking about players of that calibre but all those things went into the mix as to how we made that decision."
Perming three from four, even in the absence of Horgan, was always going to be a tough call for O'Sullivan. In the event, he went for Girvan Dempsey at fullback, with Andrew Trimble shifting across to the right wing to accommodate Hickie on the left, and so Geordan Murphy was arguably the unluckiest of all to miss out. Here, O'Sullivan said having decided upon Hickie and Dempsey, his closest call was between Trimble and Murphy on the right wing. All were form selections, O'Sullivan emphasised, yet Murphy's performances of late for Leicester - most notably when withstanding perhaps the ultimate test of European club rugby at Thomond Park - would suggest his form is better than either Trimble's or Dempsey's.
O'Sullivan conceded Murphy "played himself right into the frame" with his display in Limerick "but I've always been careful about reading too much into one performance. He played very well in that game, and didn't play badly in other games, but you have to balance it over a period weeks. It's a tough call because his form is right up there again."
In contrast, Trimble's form has dipped along with several of his Ulster colleagues since his barnstorming display against the Boks, although clearly in Horgan's absence the Ulster winger's physicality and power coming through the middle was a factor, and the Irish coach alluded to Trimble's impressive work in training.
The Irish coach appears to have a preference for Dempsey's all-round game over Murphy's, for he has only played one game for Leinster, in the defeat at Gloucester, since damaging his ankle against Munster on December 27th. Dempsey will be winning his 70th cap, while Peter Stringer will surpass David Humprheys and become Ireland's second most capped player with 73 Tests. Brian O'Driscoll wins his 71st, and 34th as captain, thereby usurping Kevin Maggs to become Ireland's fourth most-capped player.
Aside from Horgan, the only player ruled out through injury was Ireland's most capped player of all time, Malcolm O'Kelly. Slightly alarmingly, O'Sullivan described the 32-year-old's persistent knee problem as a chronic injury due to wear and tear, which requires rest and rehab. "Hopefully he'll be back in the loop next week but it is a suck-it-and-see situation . . . It is an issue in the long term and I am worried about it. But as for now he's to step back and I think Mick O'Driscoll is there (on the bench) again on his form."
Looking ahead to the weekend, O'Sullivan cited Wales' high strike rate at lineout time and scrum power to dismiss the perception their set-piece game is vulnerable, but admitted Ireland - with an average age of 28 and an average cap haul of of 43.5 per player in their starting line-up - are better primed than when highly touted two years ago.
"I do think it's a better Irish team on a number of fronts. I think we have a deeper squad, I think we have a lot more maturity in key positions, I think we've a lot more leadership on the field, I think we've a lot better sense of what we're trying to do as a team, and I think we're a more skilful side two years down the track. I hope I'm proved right on Sunday but I think if you analyse what I've just said I think that's all fair comment. What goes with that is bringing that all to bear on the championship." Nobody was inclined to argue, not for now anyway.
Not considered because of injury:Malcolm O'Kelly (Leinster), Shane Horgan (Leinster) (knee).
