O’Sullivan puts faith in Bowe and O’Driscoll

STARTING places for Tommy Bowe on the right wing and Mick O’Driscoll in the second row, and a spot on the bench for Paul O’Connell, were the main talking points from the Irish selection to face Scotland in Saturday’s RBS Six Nations game at Croke Park.

Skipper Brian O’Driscoll, whose calf muscle tightened in training yesterday, is a doubt but coach Eddie O’Sullivan expressed confidence the centre will play. The Scottish match represents Mick O’Driscoll’s third start in this, his 14th appearance for Ireland, and follows outstanding performances for Munster and in Ireland’s impressive second half display against France in Paris. Bowe’s inclusion is ironic as he is rewarded for a number of fine games for Ulster, the team he leaves at the end of the season to join Ospreys. A superb try in the Ireland A game against England Saxons also helped his cause. Bowe, who wins his 11th cap Saturday, is believed to be the second Monaghan man to represent Ireland.

“Tommy got his break two years ago, and like many young fellas who gain recognition early and have a barnstorming kind of start, things fell away for him,” reasoned O’Sullivan. “The second season is often hard for a young fella because you’ve had a good start and everybody is talking about you. I think Tommy slipped a little bit. Things didn’t go for him, but he has bounced back from that.

“It was very difficult to leave him out of the 22 against Italy because he was pushing very hard. The dynamics have changed since but he’s the guy who has kept the pressure on and that’s what he’s going to be judged on. He has really pushed his way into the team. That is great for competition.”

The preference for Mick O’Driscoll ahead of Malcolm O’Kelly was hardly a surprise. O’Sullivan claimed it was “a hard call” on O’Kelly and insisted “it would be presumptuous to think it was the end of his international career”.

He also argued that O’Driscoll’s form when he came off the bench in Paris justified a starting spot: “He made a big impact in that game and they’re the dynamics that cause you to make changes to selection.”

The inclusion of Paul O’Connell, who hasn’t played a full game since the end of the World Cup, came as a surprise to some. He had 20 minutes in an AIL game for Young Munster last month before suffering a recurrence of a back injury. However in the last fortnight he played a portion of a Munster A game against Ulster and most of the second half for the province’s Magners League tie against Edinburgh on Friday night.

“There certainly is an issue there with regard to match fitness,” O’Sullivan acknowledged. “It wasn’t a runner to put Paul in from the start of a Six Nations match but I’m happy with what I’ve seen and where he is with his fitness.

“His injury is not an issue any more. He’s training very well, has a ton of work done and he’s been training very, very hard. I’m very comfortable with him on the bench and that he can come on and make an impact. He’s jumping out of his socks to get back which is great as well.”

No matter what his selection, Eddie O’Sullivan is never going to satisfy everyone but it’s good to see him continue to make a change here and there. And in the unlikely event of Brian O’Driscoll failing to make it for Saturday, O’Sullivan said he would bring Shane Horgan into the centre as a direct replacement, with Luke Fitzgerald filling the vacancy in the replacement panel.

Fitzgerald was originally chosen in the centre on the Irish A team to take on Scotland in Perth on Friday night. However, now that he could possibly be required in Dublin, he has been replaced by Kieran Lewis in a team that also contains the fit again Ian Dowling, with Ulster man Niall O’Connor given his chance at out-half. Life doesn’t get a whole lot easier for hooker Jerry Flannery who has now fully recovered from a hand injury but is now likely to be sidelined for another two weeks or so by a hamstring strain he picked up over the weekend.

IRELAND A: D Riordan (Buccaneers/Connacht), I Dowling (Shannon/Munster), K Lewis (St Mary’s College/Leinster), G Duffy (Galwegians/Connacht), G Brown (Blackrock College/Leinster), N O’Connor (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster), I Boss (Ballymena /Ulster), C Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), F Sheahan (Cork Constitution/Munster), D Fitzpatrick (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster), T Hogan (Shannon/Leinster), R Caldwell (Dungannon/Ulster), S Keogh (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), N Ronan (Lansdowne/Munster), S Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster), Replacements: A Flavin/ J Fogarty M Ross (Harlequins), D Ryan (Shannon/Munster), D Pollock (Queens University/Ulster), C Keane (Old Belvedere/Leinster), A Dunne (Old Belvedere/Leinster), K Earls (Garryowen/Munster).