RUGBY:IT'S A measure of both how diminished Ireland's resources were on last summer's tour to New Zealand and Australia, and of how competitive the backrow area is, that none of the four loose forwards who featured in the 22-15 defeat to Australia in Brisbane made the 34-man squad announced yesterday for the forthcoming November Tests.
Stephen Ferris, Denis Leamy and Seán O’Brien are all back in harness after being sidelined for the tour, and join Jamie Heaslip, David Wallace and John Muldoon (all of whom had been sidelined through suspension or injury come the Wallabies game).
Hence, Shane Jennings and Chris Henry, along with two of the late call-ups, Niall Ronan and Rhys Ruddock, have all missed the cut.
There are also a few notable omissions in the shape of Luke Fitzgerald, Jerry Flannery and Geordan Murphy, but Fitzgerald, especially given Leinster expect him to be back in training tomorrow, will assuredly be added to the squad before the week is out.
Flannery might well be added too if a specialist confirms his calf problem is merely a minor setback, while Murphy is likely to be added after the first of those four Tests, against South Africa on November 6th at the Aviva Stadium – a game which falls outside the IRB window and therefore Leicester would not be obliged to release him.
Other summer tourists to miss out through injury are Tomás O’Leary, Ed O’Donoghue and John Fogarty, as do Paul O’Connell and Kevin McLoughlin (original picks for that tour but still sidelined), while Leo Cullen hasn’t enough rugby under his belt to force his way in but may yet do so.
The others to miss out are Fergus McFadden, an original pick for that tour before being injured in the warm-up defeat to the Barbarians, and Dan Tuohy, whose early-season injury has seen him fall down the pecking order at Ulster.
Rory Best, Keith Earls (both originally chosen for the summer tour) return to the squad, as do two upwardly mobile young locks, Donncha Ryan and Devin Toner – both ruled out of the trek to the antipodes. The biggest movers are Mike Ross, capped on the summer tour of ’09 to the Americas, and Isaac Boss, who benefits from O’Leary’s misfortune. Toner and Johne Murphy, another late call up in the summer, are the only two uncapped players in the squad.
The squad assemble for a five-day camp in Limerick from next Monday before reconvening on the ensuing Monday before the Springboks’ game. With the big-hitting Samoans, re-crowned Tri Nations champions the All Blacks and those friendly oul’ foes from Argentina all to follow the Springboks on successive Saturdays next month, arguably no Ireland team has ever faced a more daunting or more physical sequence of matches – even in a World Cup year or on a summer tour to the Southern Hemisphere.
Certainly, there’s never been an autumnal home programme quite like it before and the likelihood must be that virtually all of those named yesterday will feature at some point.
“It is going to be a demanding month for the squad and the first time we have played four games in the Guinness series,” Declan Kidney was quoted as saying in yesterday’s press release. “We felt it was important to have at least 30 fit players to choose from in terms of setting the foundations for November and it was better for those who picked up knocks to be assessed back in the provinces and when they have the all-clear, to come back into the squad.
“Jerry (Flannery) and Luke (Fitzgerald) are in that position, as are fellas like Tomás (O’Leary) and Leo (Cullen), who may well come back into the mix depending on their recoveries and game time that they may need to build up over the next couple of weeks.
“We need everybody in a position to be able to contribute in training and while we may well leave a window for those coming back, all the players in the squad are deserving of their chance. There are a lot of players who are unlucky not to make this squad, but the door will remain open to them also during November to join up with the panel.”
