NOVEMBER INTERNATIONALS IRISH TEAM SELECTION: GERRY THORNLEYsuggests Ireland have plenty of options to explore during the November internationals

ALLOWING FOR the absence of the stricken Jerry Flannery, Paul O’Connell and Tomás O’Leary, the Ireland side to play South Africa is about four-fifths of the way towards full-strength. And allowing for the absence of that trio, true to type, Declan Kidney has chosen a reasonably gnarled and grizzled team, with the experienced candidate holding sway in almost all of the marginal calls.

The most striking changing of the guard is at tighthead, where Tony Buckley wins his 20th cap, but only his sixth as the starting tighthead and his first in a frontline international on home soil.

Kidney and Gert Smal have placed huge faith in the 20st tight-head (he has won all bar two of his 19 caps under them) and in light of him supplanting John Hayes on both the summer tour and for Munster this season, there was never any doubt the younger man would prevail.

If he survives in the scrums, Buckley’s ball-carrying and surprisingly deft hands could become an additional weapon for Ireland, all the more so in a modern game when forwards are obliged to carry so much more ball.

By contrast, the preference for youth did not apply at hooker, secondrow or backrow. Furthermore, Seán Cronin is assuredly a more dynamic ball-carrier than Rory Best, and his time will surely come. But Best has always been highly regarded by the management as one of the team’s key leaders, as well as a reliable marksman, strong scrummager and excellent defender.

Donnacha Ryan was possibly the favourite to partner Donncha O’Callaghan up to a month ago, before having the misfortune to run into the renowned Bob Casey-Nick Kennedy London Irish defensive line-out axis at the Madejski Stadium. Whereupon Mick O’Driscoll was recalled a week later and gave an all-round tour de force against Toulon when calling the shots and dominating the air at line-out and restart time. That elevated O’Driscoll into pole position to face the famed Victor Matfield/Bakkies Botha and co, with the 14 tackles, chargedown and try against Toulon mere icing on the cake.

Akin to hooker, strictly on his stunning form this season for Leinster Seán O’Brien possibly deserved a first Ireland start, and akin to lock he was possibly the favourite to play at openside a few weeks ago.

However, there was more than enough in David Wallace’s performances against both London Irish and Toulon to show that Ireland’s best ball-carrying forward of the modern age, and possibly any age, is back to his best.

Besides, whenever the Ferris-Wallace-Heaslip triumvirate have been available, Kidney and co have opted for them on all bar one occasion, and this is the 13th time out of 14 they have done so. The exception was the penultimate leg of the Grand Slam two seasons ago, when Denis Leamy was preferred ahead of Heaslip in Murrayfield – only for Leamy to retire injured after 31 minutes and Heaslip to score the only try of the game.

This is not to infer, as Kidney strongly intimated yesterday, that this will always be the case. For starters, Leamy effectively missed the whole of last season, while O’Brien is now coming up hard on the rails. But Wallace’s recent revival in form, a la O’Driscoll, was probably enough to sway the call his way.

And that’s fair enough, for here again (as with tighthead as well as hooker) there is a coded message that, where possible, caps have to be fully earned – especially when displacing something of a legend. Buckley has finally earned his tilt, after a run of games for both province and country.

“For a big man like him, that’s what you need to get yourself motoring around,” said Kidney. “You could say maybe he’s a bit of a late bloomer but John hasn’t exactly made it easy for him.”

Nor have Best, O’Driscoll and Wallace done so for Cronin, Ryan and O’Brien. With all successful sides invariably a coach, and his assistants, have to generate a degree of trust between themselves and the players, and this is achieved in part through selections such as this one. Established pillars of the team aren’t tossed away on a whim, which is encouraging for those of their ilk, but by the same token aspiring tyros can see kindred spirits such as Buckley and before him Jonathan Sexton force their way in.

Fitzgerald’s selection ahead of Keith Earls and Andrew Trimble in an area which will also keep Rob Kearney and Tommy Bowe on their toes, is also fair enough on the basis of his all-round form in attack and defence and game time this season.

It’s also encouraging to see one of the relative veterans such as Peter Stringer force his way back into the mix. Still the quickest slinger around, nobody gives those outside him as much time as the Munster whippet, and having the option of quickening the tempo off the bench adds another game changing string, as it were, to Ireland’s bow. For the most arduous of Novembers Ireland has ever embarked upon, there are also now a few options to explore over the ensuing three Saturdays, and it would be wasteful not to do so.

IRELAND XV

(v South Africa, Saturday, Aviva

Stadium, 5.30pm)

15 Rob Kearney (Leinster)

14 Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)

13 Brian O’Driscoll (Leinster, capt)

12 Gordon D’Arcy (Leinster)

11 Luke Fitzgerald (Leinster)

10 Jonathan Sexton (Leinster)

9 Eoin Reddan (Leinster)

1 Cian Healy (Leinster)

2 Rory Best (Ulster)

3 Tony Buckley (Munster)

4 Donncha O’Callaghan (Munster)

5 Mick O’Driscoll (Munster)

6 Stephen Ferris (Ulster)

7 David Wallace (Munster)

8 Jamie Heaslip (Leinster)

Replacements:S Cronin (Connacht), T Court (Ulster), D Ryan (Munster), D Leamy (Munster), P Stringer (Munster), R O'Gara (Munster), A Trimble (Ulster)/P Wallace (Ulster)/K Earls (Munster).