Ireland World Cup squadGerry Thornley on a squad unlikely to crack under pressure but which lacks firepower
Although only nine of the players who partook in the last World Cup squad travel to Australia, and despite the devastating loss of Geordan Murphy and Rob Henderson, the profile of the squad is largely what you'd want. Experienced without being over the top, and with a winning habit buoyed by the turnaround which was kickstarted by the win over Scotland two games after the last World Cup.
Slightly more grizzled up front, with 10 of them aged 30 or over, the average age is 28 and the average number of caps is 27. Most of all, you sense there is a team within this squad which will not implode under pressure as they did on that night in Lens. Unlike four years ago, most are more au fait with winning than losing. The only uncapped player is Neil Doak, the third choice scrumhalf, and all the others have had some involvement in a confidence-breeding run of 15 wins from the last 17 Tests.
"Winning creates its own expectations of winning but the kind of pressure a team wants is winning pressure," said Eddie O'Sullivan. "Believe me, if you think winning pressure is bad, you should try losing pressure for a while."
Only three others have less than 10 caps. Picking Donncha O'Callaghan cannot be compared to the selection of an uncapped Bob Casey four years ago, especially when set against the glaring omission of Mick Galwey, nor is there anything to compare with picking the likes of Matt Mostyn, James Topping and Justin Bishop ahead of Denis Hickie. And Hickie, O'Driscoll, Kevin Maggs, Malcolm O'Kelly and David Humphreys, no less than the mostly Munster and Leinster players who have since broken through or rejuvenated their careers, are all better players now.
However, scanning through this squad, the biggest concern aside from the injuries to John Hayes, Shane Horgan and John Kelly, will be the absence of potential game-breakers. Coupled with the harrowing and disappointing loss of Murphy and Henderson in the 24 hours before the management convened, David Wallace's surprise exclusion and the continuing omission of Mike Mullins does leave the squad looking a little short of sheer firepower.
Who will bust through defensive lines? Who will turn games around off the bench? It does appear to leave a huge onus on Victor Costello (especially), Keith Wood, Maggs and O'Driscoll to break through the gain line.
It made sense to load up with forwards, given the attritional rate may be higher there - although, right now, it seems to be higher in the outside backs than anywhere else - but it made the decision not to pick Wallace, especially on the hard grounds of Australia, more surprising.
Last season was a virtual write-off for Wallace and after the summer tour to the islands the management reserved serious doubts about his ability to test his rebuilt shoulder in the tackle. But O'Sullivan admitted that this concern had been removed by Wallace's performances this season, when he scored tries as a replacement against Wales and last Saturday.
It's highly unlikely that any other Irish forward has the pace and ball-carrying strength Wallace demonstrated in his initial break from half-way through the Welsh line in the build-up to his try three weeks ago. It's even questionable whether any Irish forward would have had the pace and attacking radar to finish off the counter-attacking work of Denis Hickie and Brian O'Driscoll last Saturday.
Perhaps he's still a little off the pace of Test rugby, but no less than Shane Horgan, John Kelly, John Hayes, Neil Doak and others who are on the road back to full fitness and form, surely he would have been in another month or more? Granted, in the press box or the stand, we might have a tendency to admire the work of ball carriers more than say, the defensive work rate of maybe Anthony Foley and Simon Easterby, and the latter, Alan Quinlan and Eric Miller are all probably better defenders than Wallace.
However, with Kieron Dawson also excluded, there is no specialist cover for Keith Gleeson at openside, and having started 12 of his 17 Tests at number seven, Wallace has far more experience of the role at international level than any of the other five back rowers in the squad. Furthermore, were Ireland trailing to Argentina, Australia, France or whomever in the final half-hour or 20 minutes of a do-or-die World Cup game, then at the very least Wallace would be a weapon off the bench, and more capable of turning the game around than any of the aforementioned. He is the hardest forward to bring down in Irish rugby, and that's according to many of his peers.
The decision to bring six back rowers also rather negates Donncha O'Callaghan's credentials as a lock cum back rower when choosing four locks. In any event, O'Callaghan is only an alternative blindside at best, and given Costello, Quinlan, Easterby and Miller are all Test-proven number sixes, it would require a sudden outbreak of food poisoning for O'Callaghan to see any time there in this World Cup.
Not that his aggression and impact off the bench aren't worthy credentials in their own right. But Cullen can feel aggrieved over missing out to O'Callaghan and Gary Longwell, for alongside the latter against Italy he looked a younger, more mobile model. Apart from his debut as a replacement against New Zealand in the summer of 2002, Cullen has never been on a losing side in his subsequent 14 Tests, having been omitted for the Grand Slam showdown against England and the defeat in Perth.
That was always going to be a close call, and there were many others across the squad, but none you could quibble with. Somewhat surprisingly, with Paddy Wallace and Jeremy Staunton overlooked, there is no ready-made alternative for Girvan Dempsey at full-back, where O'Sullivan said David Humphreys, Denis Hickie, Brian O'Driscoll and Johnny Bell would provide cover, while Neil Doak and O'Driscoll do likewise at outhalf.
Dempsey is going to have a busy World Cup, and he won't be the only one.
