Munster claim lion's share

Presumably not even the most malcontented of Munstermen can quibble with the Irish selectors' 45man training panel for the forthcoming Six Nations senior and A campaigns - then again, who knows? "What about Dominic Crotty or Anthony Horgan?" one can imagine a few asking.

Apart from an Aussie and a Kiwi, the aforementioned duo are the only Munster players from last Saturday's starting (and finishing) line-up, which memorably defeated Saracens, not selected. With an additional five of their back-up players, all told the all-conquering Munstermen have 16 representatives in the squad - twice as many as Leinster, Ulster, or even the number of English-based players.

All of which goes some way to supporting the assertion made by both Warren Gatland and Donal Lenihan yesterday that this is very much a "form selection", although as the latter pointed out, there are one or two exceptions.

Amongst the 16 Munster players, Mick Galwey has been brought in from the cold but six of the 30-man World Cup squad have failed to make the 45-man cut barely two months on. Out go Reggie Corrigan, Angus McKeen, the injured David Corkery, Matt Mostyn, Jonathan Bell and Gordon D'Arcy, who was a replacement for original choice Girvan Dempsey but has since been troubled by injuries and usurped in Leinster's full-back pecking order by both Dempsey and Peter McKenna.

The quick and versatile McKenna, who has also played across the three-quarter line for Leinster this season, is one of 16 uncapped players amongst the 21 additions to the World Cup squad. The former Irish under-21, English-based trio of London Irish scrum-half Kieron Campbell (despite playing mostly on the wing of late), Leinster outside back Geordan Murphy and Llanelli back-row Simon Easterby are amongst these, as are the Connacht pair of centre Mel Deane and hooker Bernard Jackman.

"We see this as an opportunity to have a close look at the likes of Geordan Murphy and Simon Easterby in training," said Lenihan, "and these are the only chances you get."

There is something of a dichotomy in this year's campaign and selections in that, unlike his recently appointed assistant Eddie O'Sullivan, Gatland is completing the last stint of a two-and-a-half year contract and so his job is on the line.

"It would have been the easiest thing in the world to make a conservative selection and I think you could pick a side to bash and thump and compete very well this season," said Gatland yesterday. "But I'd like to think I've enough moral character that if I did have to walk away I could, in all honesty, say that we've picked some players for the development of Irish rugby."

Leinster's pleasure at the inclusion of a quintet of their talented young backs will be partially offset at only garnering three of the forward slots - locks Bob Casey and Malcolm O'Kelly, as well as Trevor Brennan.

The inclusion of Galwey and the omission of six of the World Cup squad was not, according to Lenihan, necessarily a tacit admission of selectorial errors last autumn. "I don't think so. Bob Casey has been outstanding and has been playing out of his skin in the last couple of matches. Galwey was involved with us all through last year and captained the A team at the end of the year."

Commenting on the exclusion of the likes of Corrigan and McKeen, Lenihan said: "It's a difficult one for them to be in the World Cup squad of 30 and then be out of the 45. But Marcus Horan is a young fella, who was on the under-21s last season, and anyone who saw what he did against Colomiers, when he spent half a game at tight-head, will realise what a talent he is, and again he is a player of the future."

The senior and A squads will not necessarily be permed exclusively from this 45-man selection, for as Lenihan pointed out: "there won't be any under-21 players on the bench for the A team. We'd rather they played for the under-21s than do that."

It's interesting to compare yesterday's first squad selection for the forthcoming campaign with the squads who were on duty in the concluding game to last season's championship in Scotland. All bar five of the 22 who were on duty at Murrayfield (namely Bell, the injured Conor McGuinness, Rob Henderson, the retired Ciaran Scally and Costello) were included yesterday.

The turnover has been more acute with regard to the second tier, for 14 of the A squad that performed so abysmally in Myreside the night before were not selected in this 45-man squad. It is also an interesting reflection of the changing times that less than a quarter, ten, of the squad are based overseas.

As Gatland stressed "the door is not closed completely before the championship. There's another round of matches this weekend and we may add to the squad before the championship."