Plenty at stake for Irish squad in tough friendly

On the face of it, tonight's Munster v Ireland XV World Cup warm-up game at Musgrave Park (6.30) is just that, something of a practice match. But for the Irish players involved there's a World Cup pecking order still to be resolved and besides, the terms `friendly' and `Munster' are probably mutually exclusive.

Ideally, the Irish management will want to use as many of their 30-strong squad as possible next month. What's the point of them being there otherwise? But to what extent each individual will be used will be decided to some degree by tonight's game and Sunday week's final preparatory run-out against Ulster.

As Irish manager Donal Lenihan has said, there probably won't be any one game in the World Cup when Ireland will use the equivalent of a touring midweek side (er, not even against Australia). "You'd be looking to integrate them at some stages and so we'll be looking to play several of the combinations within the squad who are playing in this game."

Nor was the Irish manager reluctant to specify which players would be looking for big performances in tonight's game. When asked to cite the respective players who the management would be specifically focusing on, Lenihan said: "Individually, certainly a lot of the Leinster players who had a disappointing outing against Connacht."

The Irish management have gone on record, however, as saying they would be looking to rest Peter Clohessy and Paul Wallace during the Cup - hence they picked five props in their World Cup squad. Thus it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to deduce that Reggie Corrigan and Angus McKeen could do with strong displays of their scrummaging ability tonight. By the same token, a resurgence of Malcolm O'Kelly's form wouldn't go amiss. Mind you, the escape from Leinster's travails may be just the mental fillip required for O'Kelly.

Ditto, the hitherto frustrated-looking Eric Miller, who hasn't looked the happiest of loose forwards when being substituted by Tony McWhirter in Ulster's colours recently. It may have been significant to note that not one Ulster player bothered to go over to Miller when he went down injured in the Munster game. But again, he could relish this change of environment in the middle of what is likely to be a very hungry back row. James Topping too has looked hungry for work and in good nick heretofore, and with the winger's pecking order still to be resolved, the management are sure to watch his performance closely.

But the one individual who could have another field day if he gets a few runs at the converted and inexperienced winger Colm McMahon is in-form flyer Matt Mostyn. This game will tickle Munster's fancy no end. Although Declan Kidney has played the poor mouth this week, with a hint of tongue-in-cheek, it's still a strong, if weakened, Munster selection, especially with the grizzled back five in the pack.

"It's different to a competitive match," Kidney observed. "It's a match where we'll see what the players want out of it themselves. If we can be competitive for them (Ireland), that will give them a far better understanding of where they are. At the end of the day we're all under the same paymaster so it's good for us to help them. What we want to be is competitive and good for them, and learn a few things ourselves. Then if we get a good game out of it, so much the better."

Munster could well embarrass the `visitors' tonight. Indeed for chunks of the first hour you'd almost expect them to. But it is a weakened side, with several new combinations (in Peter Stringer's case it's his first game of the season for Munster) and once the subs start arriving en masse and the last quarter kicks in, Ireland should be able to pull away.

Munster: D Crotty; C McMahon, J Kelly, J Holland, A Horgan; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, F Sheehan, J Hayes, M Galwey (capt), J Langford, A Quinlan, A Foley, D Wallace. Replacements - M McDermott, I Murray, P Neville, S Leahy, J Lacey, K O'Riordan, P Bracken, D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll, U O'Callaghan, IRELAND XV: C O'Shea (capt); J Topping, K Maggs, M Mullins, M Mostyn; E Elwood, B O'Meara; R Corrigan, R Nesdale, A McKeen, J Davidson, M O'Kelly, D Corkery, E Miller, K Dawson. Replacements - K Wood, J Fitzpatrick, R Casey, D O'Cuinneagain, A Ward, T Tierney, D Humphreys, B O'Driscoll, J Bishop.

On the recommendation of the Irish management, Tom Tierney, Trevor Brennan, Girvan Dempsey and Brian O'Driscoll have been elevated to full-time national contracts.

Tonight's game at Musgrave Park will be preceded by a seven-a-side women's game between Highfield and Midleton. Dolphin RFC will be providing a marquee with bar and musical entertainment before the game and at halftime the Munster Branch will hold a draw, based on match programme numbers, for stand tickets for the Ireland v Australia World Cup game on October 10th, and for Munster's home European Cup games against Colomiers, Pontyprodd and Saracens.