O’Connell gets nod to face Scotland

PAUL O’CONNELL will start Ireland’s crunch RBS Six Nations Championship clash with Scotland after passing a fitness test yesterday.

Ireland boss Eddie O’Sullivan delayed naming his second row for the Lansdowne Road encounter in order to give O’Connell every chance to recover from his shoulder injury.

The Lions lock suffered an AC joint separation against France nearly four weeks ago. He was given the all-clear by Ireland’s medical team last night.

Donncha O’Callaghan has paid the price for his Munster team-mate’s return and must settle for a place on the bench. O’Sullivan faced a tough call in deciding who to drop out of O’Callaghan and Malcolm O’Kelly given the duo’s performances against Wales, but the Leinster veteran has been given the nod.

Mick O’Driscoll drops out of the squad altogether.

Victory in Dublin on Saturday would set up a potential Grand Slam decider against England eight days later, while Scotland need a win to keep their title hopes alive.

O’Connell was Ireland’s player of the Six Nations until injury ruled him out against Wales, and his presence is vital if the Scots are to be beaten.

Last night former Irish international and Irish Examiner pundit Donal Lenihan described O’Connell’s availability as “huge”.

“Paul has grown into his position well and leads the way towards the future of Irish second-row play.

“He was injured in the match against France but obviously played through the pain barrier. I hope, for his sake, that he is 100%, but then we have to rely on the medical opinion and that has proved itself in the past.”

Lenihan said Scotland, after victories over France and England, would be hard to beat even at home.

“We have great second-row forwards at our disposal but, at the end of the day, we have to look to the different circumstances that might crop up in any one international,” he said.

Elsewhere last night, Munster announced that Christian Cullen and Mike Mullins have been added to the squad for the knock-out stages of the Heineken Cup.

Neither were nominated when Munster submitted their original Heineken Cup squad back in September. Mullins was then recovering from an Achilles tendon injury, while Cullen was recovering from a shoulder injury sustained in the Celtic League game against Cardiff Blues at The Arms Park the previous March.

Both have been back field training for the past number of weeks and gradually increasing the amount of physical contact in training. Now the Munster management has voiced their satisfaction with the duo’s progress.

After seven years, Mullins is scheduled to leave the Munster set up at the end of the season. He will return to his native New Zealand where he will take up the role of coach to NPC side North Otago.

He began his coaching career four years ago as assistant to the Old Crescent seniors and has coached the club’s under-20s as well as the Glenstal Abbey First XV for the past two seasons.

Mullins, a New Zealand U-21 international, joined West Hartlepool in England before joining Munster.

He made his Irish debut when he replaced Kevin Maggs against Argentina in August 1999 before going on to play in the World Cup that year.

Mullins will take over North Otago on a two-year contract.