Run-down New South Wales may now prove vulnerable

With a spring in their step, the Irish squad yesterday returned from sunny and sandy Terrigal to the seedy side of Sydney. Nothing energises a touring party like an encouraging opening win. Now Monday's idle members of the 28-man squad will be itching for a run-out.

All will be accommodated, fitness permitting, at some juncture next Saturday against New South Wales in the Waratahs Stadium (kick-off 2.30 local time, 5.30am Irish time).

The team will be confirmed after a morning training session in Sydney today and is likely to offer first outings for Reggie Corrigan (provided his groin strain heals) and Paddy Johns, as well as Monday night's subs up front, Ross Nesdale, Paul Wallace, Trevor Brennan and Dion O'Cuinneagain. All fairly flew into the fray on Monday.

With one eye on the tests, Victor Costello's display seriously enhances the option of playing him at number eight with O'Cuinneagain at six, as well as the alternatives of employing O'Cuinneagain at eight with Corkery or Trevor Brennan on the blind side. Despite his try, some good hits and strong running, Corkery conceded a few turnovers and possibly didn't hit enough rucks.

Malcolm O'Kelly is likely to be confined to a replacement role on Saturday after his lengthy absence and shoulder operation. This will probably mean Jeremy Davidson starting all four games, as might Andy Ward.

Tom Tierney's confident and commanding form in training and on Monday night also puts it up to Ciaran Scally, presuming he will be partnered with Eric Elwood. In the expectation that Conor O'Shea will come in, Girvan Dempsey may be given a run on the wing, as indeed might Matt Mostyn on the basis that the management know less about him than the other wingers.

For Mostyn, Monday night was something of a fairytale homecoming. Unable to nail down a place at New South Wales, Mostyn scored his second consecutive brace of tries in the green. More tense than any other squad member in the days leading up to the game, Mostyn was an altogether more contented figure when standing among his Australian parents and former club team-mates at Eastwood afterwards.

"I was very nervous before the game, but the team has been great to me and there has been no friction with an Australian coming into the squad," said Mostyn, who has been discernibly impressed by the absence of cliques within the squad. Indeed, there are fines for even an accidental coming together of four or more players from the same neck of the woods. In some respects, though, Mike Mullins made the more impressive debut of the two.

The real bonus has been the form of the younger players in the squad, and here it's worth noting that the management have gambled on all five of them (Brian O'Driscoll, Tom Tierney, Jeremy Staunton, Ciaran Scally and Robert Casey) despite being given little or no rugby this past season by their provincial coaches.

Brian O'Driscoll, almost predictably, was exceptional. With Kevin Maggs only nearing 100 per cent, the midfield partnerships for Saturday and then the tests will also be intriguing. O'Driscoll may be a better inside than outside centre, but with the management toying with the idea of reverting Maggs to number 12, O'Driscoll could emerge as first choice at 13.

In developing a more expansive style, while bringing on a new crop of young players and also using the tour as a training camp, there's a strong hint of emulating the Scots with this trip.

Compared to Scotland's 23-12 win over NSW Country 12 months ago, Steve Merrick, Country's ex-Wallaby scrum-half, said: "Even though that was Scotland's third game, Ireland were much better. We were always in the game against Scotland, but Ireland just took us off the paddock."

That said, Merrick warned: "New South Wales will be a different story to us. They'll be much better prepared. They'll be so much smarter having played the whole Super 12. The Super 12 competition has to be the best in the world. They know what they're doing, their preparation will be fantastic. I saw them all sitting behind the goalposts, so they came up to watch them (Ireland). They'll know what to expect now."

However, by all accounts, on and off the pitch New South Wales appear to be in some disarray. Despite a strong start in the Super 12s, injuries to key players undermined their challenge and the Waratahs fell away badly in losing all but one of their last seven games.

Pilloried in the local media, this has culminated in coach Matt Williams taking leave of his position after Saturday's game - the price to be paid for "lame-duckery" according to one columnist.

Chief executive John Winstanley is expected to follow, while less than a week ago two board members of NSW Rugby, Patrick Allaway and former Wallabies captain Steve Williams, resigned and yesterday cited their frustration in achieving change within a split board which requires radical overhaul.

The Waratahs' Stadium in the untraditional west side of Sydney has been dubbed a white elephant and NSW Rugby had a AU$2.3 million loss last year. The NSW Waratahs are the only Australian team never to make the Super 12 knock-out stages, a much derided failure especially as the state provides an estimated 58 per cent of the 115,000 people who play rugby in Australia.

This prompted Spiro Zavos to observe in yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald: "NSW should be the engine driving Australian rugby. For the past four years they have been more like a flat battery."

They look acutely run down for Saturday's game. Though only one NSW player has made the test XV, lock Tom Bowman, a further six have made the bench - the spin-off for Ireland being that as a result all are ruled out for Saturday.

A spate of injuries have also disrupted Williams' final selection. Their other Wallaby lock, John Welborn, has been ruled out with a lower back strain, which may mean a new second-row combination of Fijian Sam Domoni and newcomer Peter Besseling, while out-half Christian Warm is still sidelined with a knee injury, although brilliant Wallaby full back Matt Bourke is expected to continue on his comeback trail.

Ireland may not have beaten that much yet, they will be obliged to make more changes in another largely untried combination, and are the away side. Even so, by comparison they seem to be in rude health.