CARRYOWEN scrum-half Stephen McIvor will win his first cap for Ireland against Australia at Lansdowne Road on Saturday and will thus achieve an ambition he has nurtured since he first put on a rugby jersey at Blackrock College. He will be playing against a Wallabies side that shows four changes in personnel and two positional alterations from the team that beat Scotland in Murrayfield.
McIvor (27) was called into the side yesterday to take over from the captain Niall Hogan, who lost his battle for fitness after damaging ankle ligaments playing for Oxford University last week. The captaincy goes to hooker Keith Wood, who led the Ireland A team to victory over South Africa A last week and gave a memorable performance in what was his first match in the Ireland jersey since he damaged a shoulder playing against Japan in the World Cup in May 1995. Now with Harlequins, Wood is a former Garryowen team-mate of McIvor.
Remarkably when Hogan won his first cap against England two years ago, like McIvor, he was called into the side on the Wednesday prior to the match when the then team captain and scrum-half Michael Bradley had to withdraw.
"I am absolutely delirious with joy at the prospect of winning my first cap," said McIvor yesterday. "It has been a time coming, but as my father said to me, everything comes to him who waits. I knew I had a chance when Niall was injured but I did not want to build up my expectations. I feel very sorry for Niall. It is very hard to have to stand down and even more so when you are captain."
McIvor won two Leinster Schools Senior Cup medals with Blackrock and a junior medal. He went to UCD and after leaving College, joined Garryowen. It took him some time to establish himself in the first team, but he has been a regular in the side over the last three seasons. He has won an All-Ireland League and two Munster Cup medals with Garryowen.
I owe a lot to Garryowen and to several people in the club but in particular to the chairman Frank Hogan. I played for the Irish Universities while at UCD and apart from that the only other Irish side I played for was the Development team against the United States in Galway a few years ago," said McIvor, who at the start of the season was going to join London Irish and travelled to London with that intention. But then he had second thoughts and decided to stay with Garryowen.
He has been Munster's first-choice scrum-half this season. "I played for the Leinster under-20 side while at UCD, but when I moved to Garryowen I declared for Munster." Brian O'Meara (Constitution) comes into the replacements.
Wood received the news of his elevation to the captaincy with surprise and delight. "It was totally unexpected," he said. " It is not the ideal way to get the captaincy but I am greatly honoured to lead Ireland. It adds to the pressures and we are meeting one of the best rugby teams in the world. But there is a huge incentive now for us all."
The Australians have named Dan Crowley at loose-head prop. He joined the squad on Tuesday as replacement for Richard Harry, who broke a thumb. Crowley has not played since the last Test against South Africa in August. He was an original selection for the tour but failed a fitness test and had to withdraw.
Jason Little has been chosen on the right wing, with Tim Horan moving from wing to centre for Pat Howard. George Gregan replaces Sam Payne at scrum-half, and Michael Brial will play at number eight with Daniel Manu moving to the blind-side flank for Owen Finegan.
Commenting on Little's selection on the wing, coach Greg. Smith said: "He is a world-class player and once he was fit, we wanted him in the team. He can play on the wing or in the centre just as Tim Horan can. We have no worries about his ability to adapt to the wing. We have the facility of switching players round if we want to do that. Daniel Herbert deserves to retain his place and played well against Ulster."
Australia could have chosen Little to resume his centre partnership with Horan a great midfield combination - and given David Campese a place on the wing.
