It was a "tight call" but Jerry Flannery is favoured ahead of Rory Best by Eddie O'Sullivan and will earn his second cap against Italy in Ireland's Six Nations opener at Lansdowne Road on Saturday afternoon. It will be the Munster hooker's first appearance in the tournament, having only featured for 15 minutes in last autumn’s win over Romania.
Flannery will man the front row with Munster teammates Marcus Horan and John Hayes, with another Thomond favourite David Wallace at number seven.
Malcolm O'Kelly is chosen ahead of Donncha O'Callaghan, thereby avoiding a Munster tight five whitewash, but O'Sullivan is still keen to stay away from selection disputes tarnished by provincial bickering and made the point on numerous occasions today that selections were made on merit.
"He (Flannery) has had a very good run of form basically," said O'Sullivan this afternoon. "It’s a tight enough call but in fairness to him he has probably edged out Rory based on his performances in the Heineken Cup.
"It’s pretty much the same for all the other calls, they were pretty tight, but I think these are the form fellas at the moment."
Flannery himself admits to having felt frustrated by the "catch-22" situation of lack of experience, and a lack of opportunities to get any experience. But his rise through the ranks has certainly gathered pace of late and his chance to gain some top-flight game time is nearly upon him.
That experience is going to be helped along nicely by the prevalence of Munster players throughout the team. "Playing with your mates, at any level, makes it a lot easier ye know," enthused Flannery.
Though he has never played Italian opposition, he has been well briefed and knows that he is in for a game in that front row, while being aware of what's required. "They have a good scrum, they have a very good lineout and a very physical pack...so we've got to match them up there first and dominate them."
Munster fans will feel relief, and no doubt vindication, at the inclusion of Wallace in the backrow but his absence in autumn was justifiable, as his inclusion is now. Having produced an immense display against Sale at Thomond Park two weeks ago, capped by a crucial last minute try and six turnovers - highlighted by O'Sullivan today - he left his coach with little choice.
"David has played particularly well in the last month or so, and forced his way into what is a very difficult department of the team," said O'Sullivan. "I think guys have been picked not just on one game, I think we are looking at a number of games, and his form has been good. As I said back in the autumn he didn't get into the squad, he wasn't on the Munster team in the autumn.
"His first Heineken game was after the autumn squad was picked and he's proved since then that he has got better and better."
O'Sullivan noted that Wallace's progress in aspects of his game, other than ball carrying, was what swung it for him. The coach clearly wanted the Garryowen man to improve around the ruck and steal more ball, something he showed in abundance against Sale.
"There are aspects of his game that his workrate's gone up dramatically in. I think against the Sale Sharks he had six poaches at ruck time which was a colossal amount of work on the opposition ball and its an area that maybe he hadn't focused on before. "We talked to him at length after the autumn about the areas he needed to work on and obviously he has put those to right."
Wallace admits that there were a "couple of years" when things weren't going well but feels he is back to where he was at the start of his international career with the added bonus of experience. The incessant calls for his inclusion, both in the media and from the public, were a help, he says, but could also lead to too much head-scratching and a lack of focus.
"It's great. But I suppose it has its downsides. You can be lured into the fact that people are saying 'he should be in'... and you can get distracted and be looking at yourself and saying, 'well why aren't I not in the team'. You could fall in to the trap of buying into that...and its great that people have faith in me but you need to look at yourself as well."
Wallace's Munster backrow partner Denis Leamy takes the number eight shirt with Simon Easterby on the blindside.
From the 10 available backs there can be little surprise as to the starting seven. Tommy Bowe's inclusion on the left wing was in little doubt considering his six caps and two tries, but O'Sullivan will have no hesitation in giving his Ulster teammate Andrew Trimble a run if needs be.
"Tommy has more experience at this level on the wing but I wouldn't have a problem with Andrew filling in there if he needed to," said O'Sullivan.
Trimble has two tries himself, both were secured in the autumn against Romania, but his natural berth is in the centre and he may serve Ireland better from the bench in the event of a replacement being needed for the starting central pair from Leinster, Gordon D'Arcy and captain Brian O'Driscoll.
O'Sullivan fully expects Pierre Berbizier to have stamped his own mark on the Italian side but knows that there are some constants that can be expected from the Azzurri.
Ireland opened the campaign in Rome last year and like any underdogs the Italians came out snarling. Weathering that storm is likely to be the first task for O'Sullivan's team. Winning is final but foremost.
"I am looking for a good solid performance from the pack, at set-piece time, and I am looking for the backs to be pretty precise when we have the football and obviously when we don't have the football [we have to] defend in what's going to be a pretty physical encounter I think. It always is."
"The strength of Italian rugby at the moment would tend to be in the pack and I think they'll play to their strengths."
IRELAND: 15. Geordan Murphy, 14. Shane Horgan, 13. Brian O'Driscoll, 12. Gordon D'Arcy, 11. Tommy Bowe , 10. Ronan O'Gara, 9. Peter Stringer, 1. Marcus Horan, 2. Jerry Flannery, 3. John Hayes, 4. Malcolm O'Kelly, 5. Paul O'Connell, 6. Simon Easterby, 7. David Wallace, 8. Denis Leamy.
Replacements: 16. Rory Best, 17. Simon Best, 18. Donncha O'Callaghan, 19. Johnny O'Connor, 20. Eoin Reddan, 21. David Humphreys, 22. Andrew Trimble.
Not considered due to injury: Frankie Sheahan, Alan Quinlan
