Bishop’s prayers are answered

IRISH coach Eddie O’Sullivan has insisted that a “horses for courses” approach is behind the decision to recall Justin Bishop from the international wilderness, to the exclusion of John Kelly, for Saturday’s Six Nations clash with Wales at the Millennium Stadium.

Bishop's dramatic Cardiff recall is one of three changes by the Irish selectors from the 15 which inflicted a 15-12 defeat on France, though two were forced by injuries to Gary Longwell and Victor Costelloe, who are

replaced by Leo Cullen and Alan Quinlan respectively.

Bishop's last appearance for Ireland was last November's international against Argentina in Dublin, and O'Sullivan maintained: "We didn't have to dwell too much on the other issues, but it was a difficult decision to bring Justin in ahead of John. They are both quality players but we called it for this game because we think Justin is the man for this particular job."

O'Sullivan declined to elaborate further on the issue even though Bishop has only two games behind him after recovering from a broken bone in his hand one of them a none too happy experience for London Irish against Gloucester.

"I just think he is the right person to play on the wing against Wales. The opposition was a consideration."

Kelly fans won't feel the same way despite Bishop's decent track record in green. Even though the Cork Constitution winger was only a replacement for the injured Shane Horgan and

Girvan Dempsey, he still played well enough to expect another appearance at the Millennium Stadium.

Although Ireland's injury list is growing and O'Sullivan is unhappy with the condensed Six Nations season, he wasn't quite complaining.

"It could be worse. The injuries to Gary and Victor are not serious but we had to consider the season as a whole. We might have stretched a point and they might have been able to play but it could have had a knock-on affect.

Donncha O'Callaghan and Eric Miller have been added to the Irish bench.

"I would like to think that, as a management team, we put the issue of player welfare at the top of the list. We have a responsibility to make sure that this comes first.

"I think both of these players will be available for selection after Saturday and others, such as Emmett Byrne, Girvan Dempsey and maybe Shane Horgan could also come into the equation after that.

"There is no point in flogging a player and taking risks when they are not quite right but almost right. We have a responsibility to make sure that their recovery can take a proper course."

One thing O'Sullivan is not pleased about is the suggestion that the A Championship might be disbanded. Wales have already withdrawn because of financial difficulties and while that has given O'Sullivan latitude in relation to the current injury problems, he is not happy in the long term.

"It would be very bad from our point of view. Take Paul O'Connell, for instance. He played his first game in weeks for his club last weekend.

"The provinces aren't in action competitively at the moment so it would have been ideal for a guy like him to work his way up by playing for Ireland A. There is a serious step up and, in the ideal world, the best thing would be to move from club, to province to country. Hopefully these A games will continue."

O'Sullivan is still against the current structure of the championship.

"People have made suggestions that it will be good training for the World Cup when we will have to play games in successive weeks.

"The thing is that the World Cup is a stand-alone competition once every four years. The Six Nations is different because players are going into it on the back of other games, both provincial and international and, when they come out of it, most of them will be involved in games of high intensity.

"There's no point in complaining about it, however, because the structure is cut in stone for a couple of years anyway. We just have to live with it and do our best in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in."

He pointed to England and Wales as having similar problems with injury. "It's just the way it is. Having to play games at six-day intervals isn't much good for any of these players."

So what of the run-in? "It's going to be one game at a time. There is no point in talking about England in two weeks unless we close the deal in Cardiff and I have no doubt that it won't be easy.

"Wales have their backs to the wall. They will view this as probably their only remaining opportunity to win a game because they have to travel to Paris for the last match. They will be at least as fired up as they were for England a few weeks back.

"I think the scoreline in Murrayfield flattered Scotland a bit but it was good for us to be able to watch the way Wales play if they are given an opportunity.

"We would like to think that we can play attacking rugby but we will have to make sure that we are structured in our approach to the game.

"We need to be very clear about our game plan and carry it through by putting them under pressure The aim will be to play entertaining rugby but only if that's possible. We're going to Wales to win and I don't care how we achieve it at the end of the day."