World Cup heartbreak for Wallace and Murphy

DAVID WALLACE, a Lion two years ago when he was also a key member of the national team, is the shock omission from the Irish World Cup squad.

The passing over of Wallace coupled with the tragic injury sustained by Geordan Murphy in Saturday's victory over Scotland at Murrayfield were the main talking points after coach Eddie O'Sullivan finally showed his hand at a press conference in Lansdowne Road yesterday.

Keith Wood will captain the 30-man squad which travels to Bilbao in Spain tomorrow for a week's training. They will then return home for a few days prior to reassembling for a final camp at City West before departing for Australia on September 28. They will leave many extremely disappointed players behind, most notably Wallace and the injured Murphy and Rob Henderson.

"In spite of some untimely injuries to Geordan and Rob, I am happy that we have a particularly strong squad with a good mix of experience and skill," insisted Eddie O'Sullivan who worked until 4am yesterday with his management team in finalising the party.

"Difficult decisions had to be made in the selections of many positions. I have been in touch this morning with Geordan's doctor and he tells me the player is absolutely devastated, no other way to put it. He was in shock after it happened and I'm not sure he knew what was happening. He is a huge loss. The Rugby World Cup was a stage made for Geordan and he could have been one of the players of the tournament if not the outstanding player of them all.

"The atmosphere in the dressingroom on Saturday said it all. It was like we had lost by 50 points to Scotland instead of winning by 29-10. Apart from being a great player, he is also very popular with every member of the squad. His injury is pretty horrendous and could keep him out of the game for six months. He will get over the pain in his leg but he won't quickly get over the pain of missing out on the World Cup. My heart goes out to him. But now we have to get over this loss. It's all part of sport."

O'Sullivan has named 17 forwards and 13 backs and Wallace's omission is the all more surprising in that the coach has opted for six back-row forwards. O'Sullivan admitted that the composition of the back five of the scrum caused him most heartache and coupled Leinster's Leo Cullen with Wallace as two of those most unfortunate to be omitted. But he denied the back-row had been completed before Saturday's game at Murrayfield when Wallace capped an excellent performance with a fine try.

"It's bad enough to leave a player out of a Test match but to leave a player out of a Rugby World Cup is harrowing", said a clearly emotional O'Sullivan. "There were some very disappointed people at the end of the phone this morning but to their credit they were all absolutely professional and took it on the chin."

Frankie Sheahan is one of three hookers in the squad, his inclusion rounding off a memorable week for the Cork Constitution man. Having been freed from a doping ban on Monday, he came through what O'Sullivan described as "a high octane" game on the winning side for Munster against Leinster at Donnybrook on Friday and now he's off to the World Cup. A week sure is a long time in rugby.

Sheahan is joined by his Cork Constitution clubmates John Kelly, Ronan O'Gara, Anthony Horgan and Donnacha O'Callaghan, who is just a few months older than the youngest member of the squad, Young Munster second-row Paul O'Connell - he won't be 24 until October 20, the day after Ireland's second match against Namibia in Sydney.

Four members of the squad John Kelly, Jonathan Bell, Shane Horgan and John Hayes are currently on the injured list and there remains some doubt over each of them. One or all can be replaced at any point but once that happens they cannot subsequently be recalled to the squad. Kelly, Horgan and Hayes will not be travelling to Bilbao, instead they will remain in Dublin for further rehab.

David Humphreys with 56 appearances is the most capped player in the squad followed by Malcolm O'Kelly (54), Kevin Maggs and Wood (53 each) and Anthony Foley (45).

The players will be accompanied by a 16-man management team.