RUGBY NEWS:GAVIN DUFFY, Tomás O'Leary and Tony Buckley have been handed an opportunity to convince Ireland coach Declan Kidney they deserve to be included in his plans for the Six Nations Championship. Ireland take their seasonal bow against Italy in the Stadio Flaminio on Saturday week.
However tomorrow night in Netherdale, the Ireland Wolfhounds and Scotland will contest an A international and given the stockpile of injuries Kidney is facing there are vacancies in the senior squad on the strength of enterprising performances.
There could be no other reason for demanding that established Test players in scrumhalf O’Leary and tighthead prop Buckley play in this match other than in trying to assist them in recovering form. Otherwise there would be far greater merit in evaluating the bona fides of Paul O’Donohue or Jamie Hagan, to name but two, position specific promising young players, to function at this level.
Duffy is returning from injury and needs game time and that’s why he has been rerouted from the senior squad. The Connacht fullback will present his case in trying to convince Kidney he should be entrusted with the number 15 jersey for the Test in Rome.
Six players remain on the Wolfhounds side from the corresponding fixture against the Scots last February; Duffy, right wing Johne Murphy, outhalf Ian Humphreys, Buckley, secondrow Devin Toner and captain and number eight Chris Henry. That number would probably have been even greater as Fergus McFadden has been promoted to cover the raft of injuries in the senior squad while Darren Cave, Ian Dowling and Dan Tuohy are currently injured.
Eoin O’Malley and Nevin Spence form an exciting young midfield, Denis Hurley is rewarded for his form while in Humphreys and O’Leary, this side possess the pace and flair to pursue high-tempo patterns.
Munster secondrow Ian Nagle gets a chance in the absence of the injured Tuohy and Donnacha Ryan while Kevin McLaughlin, who made his full Ireland debut against Italy last year, can remind the senior management what a good players he is; ditto Henry.
Connacht coach Eric Elwood has prepared the team, assisted by Anthony Foley, in what is likely to be a tougher contest than last year’s match at Ravenhill which Ireland won 34-19.
IRELAND WOLFHOUNDS: G Duffy (Connacht); J Murphy (Munster), E O'Malley (Leinster), N Spence (Ulster), D Hurley (Munster); I Humphreys (Ulster), T O'Leary (Munster); B Wilkinson (Connacht), D Varley (Munster), T Buckley ( Munster); I Nagle (Munster), D Toner (Leinster); K McLaughlin (Leinster), W Faloon (Ulster), C Henry (Ulster, capt). Replacements: N Brady (Ulster), J Hagan (Connacht), A Browne (Connacht), D Ryan (Leinster), I Boss (Leinster), N O'Connor (Ulster), I Whitten (Ulster).
