Eddie defends call to leave out Best and Heaslip

THE winds of change certainly weren’t blowing through the corridors of Irish rugby yesterday when Eddie O’Sullivan announced his team to face Italy in the opening round of the Six Nations in Croke Park on Saturday.

Certain players, like Leinster duo Jamie Heaslip and Bernard Jackman, have reason to be mystified, even aggrieved, by their exclusion from the starting XV as O’Sullivan stayed true to his conservative instincts, selecting a side made up largely of the team that failed so spectacularly at the Rugby World Cup.

Heaslip, a no 8 of some repute, was expected to make his Six Nations debut, but instead Denis Leamy reverts from the number six role he filled so successfully for Munster since switching to the blindside in December and back to his normal number eight position with Ireland.