Wallace work rate earned recall, says O’Sullivan

THE recall of David Wallace, the introduction of his Munster colleague Jerry Flannery and the return of Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell were the main talking points as Eddie O’Sullivan unveiled his team for the start of the Six Nations Championship against Italy at Lansdowne Road on Saturday.

O’Sullivan also had to make a tough call in the second row, where Donncha O’Callaghan pushed Malcolm O’Kelly for his place alongside O’Connell.

“I looked at three main areas,” explained O’Sullivan. “It was a tight call between Jerry and Rory Best, in the second row between Malcolm and Donncha, and the back row is always a tough one as well.

“When we picked the squad for the Autumn games, Jerry Flannery was only on the bench for Munster, since then he really has had a great run of form. He probably edged out Rory based on his performances in the Heineken Cup. It’s pretty much the same for the other calls, but I feel the guys selected are the form guys at the moment.”

David Wallace returns for his first Six Nations start since helping Ireland beat Scotland in the 2004 Triple Crown decider.

Wallace has been the fans’ favourite for months, and the coach recognised the contribution he has made to Munster’s pick-up in form. “He has forced his way in; the game we’re playing will be against a fairly nuggety pack of forwards, and there will be a lot of close quarter hand-to-hand combats. We picked a back row to meet that, but David has played particularly well in the last month and he gets his chance against a very good group of contenders,” said O’Sullivan.

The coach praised Wallace for the way he has adapted his game of late. Always noted as one of the top ball-carrying flankers in Europe, O’Sullivan said that Wallace had added another dimension recently.

“There are other important areas other than carrying the ball; there’s work to be done at the breakdown, possibilities to be a link man and cleaning out effectively. I think he has always been a world-class ball carrier, that was never an issue; but his work rate in other areas has gone up dramatically. Against Sale Sharks he had six poaches at ruck time, and that is a colossal amount of work on the opposition ball. That was perhaps an area he hadn’t focused upon before. We talked to him at length about the areas we felt he needed to work on, and obviously he has put those things right.”

O’Sullivan defended his decision to play Denis Leamy at No 8, above the claims of the two outstanding players in Munster and Leinster Heineken Cup runs - Anthony Foley and Jamie Heaslip.

“I don’t think Denis is out of position at No 8; he proved that in the autumn. He can play at six, seven or eight. In the modern game, your back rows have to be flexible. There is the case sometimes to play the out-and-out open side like Johnny (O’Connor), Keith (Gleeson) or Shane (Jennings), but we have gone for a certain balance in this back row, and I have no worries about Denis filling that role.”

O’Sullivan believes Italy will provide Ireland with a stern test.

“Gone are the days when you could put Italy away in the first half. Nowadays, you have to expect a full-on confrontation and if you’re going to beat them, you have to be patient. It may take longer to break them down, but there is always the danger that this won’t be possible. Italy’s big wins in this competition have generally been achieved in the first game or two.”