Munster duo left out in the cold

THE bad news keeps getting worse for Tomás O’Leary and Tony Buckley.

A week after being left out of the Munster starting line-up for the province’s do-or-die Heineken Cup clash in Toulon, the pair were yesterday omitted from Ireland’s RBS 6 Nations squad.

Coach Declan Kidney named a 32-man squad for the 2011 Championship, which begins for Ireland in Rome against Italy on February 6, calling up one uncapped player in Connacht lock/back row Mike McCarthy, while Leinster back Luke Fitzgerald and Ulster hooker Rory Best return having suffered injuries during the November internationals.

Tighthead prop Buckley was overlooked in preference for Munster team-mate John Hayes and Leinster’s rising star Mike Ross while scrum-half O’Leary, who missed the four autumn Guinness Series Tests with a fractured thumb, lost out to his positional rivals Peter Stringer and Eoin Reddan.

They must both settle for places in Ireland’s Wolfhounds squad for the January 28 game against Scotland A in Netherdale, as do Isaac Boss, Johne Murphy, Donnacha Ryan, Devin Toner and Damien Varley, all of whom featured in Kidney’s Guinness Series squad.

Both Kidney and Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll yesterday insisted the door had not been shut on any player named in the Wolfhounds squad being considered for the Six Nations opener at Stadio Flaminio.

“In terms of player game time ahead of the Championship and World Cup squad development, the two Wolfhound games are of enormous importance,” Kidney said, referring also to the game against England A on February 4 at Ravenhill.

“The players named in the Wolfhounds squad are in contention for the game against Italy. We have left a vacancy in the squad that we will fill after the provinces play this weekend and weigh up who we want to have game time and who we want to retain with the senior squad in Limerick.”

Irish skipper O’Driscoll said he thought O’Leary and Buckley could battle back into the national squad. He said: “I presume Declan has plans for them to play some more rugby and to get another look at them, but I don’t know what (way) he is thinking.”

As for the call-ups for McCarthy, a former England U21 international whose grandfather hailed from Mayo, and Leinster forward Rhys Ruddock, O’Driscoll said their selections came as no surprise. “Declan has been looking at a huge amount of games along with (assistant coaches) Gert (Smal) and Les Kiss; they’ve identified particular individuals for specific positions. I believe Mike McCarthy has been playing a variation of second and back row and is a great lineout option, a quick guy, a smart reader of lineouts and with regards to Rhys, he is a very talented young guy, a hard worker and has a good hard edge that all teams would love in their back row.

“It’s an opportunity to gain more experience within Irish camps; he got flown in out of the blue during the summer (for Ireland’s tour to New Zealand and Australia) and got his first cap and is certainly one for the future. The more time he spends in camp, the more comfortable he will be in that environment.”

McCarthy himself was understandably delighted at his call-up. The versatile 29-year-old forward, signed from Newcastle by Connacht for a second spell in the west in 2007, said: “I was surprised when I was told but was thrilled at the same time. It’s a great honour but I now I want to give it my best and go all the way and get capped.”

Kidney said competition for places in the Ireland squad had not been higher since he took charge.

“The selection of the squad is never an easy one but certainly the level of competition in each position is probably as great as it has ever been over the last two years. Players have been pushing their performances for their provinces, so that level of competition can only be good. That translates into more competition for each place in the squad and then for the first selection against Italy, which can only be a good thing coming into the championship.

“The key for us is to work hard in setting the foundations for the tournament in our first week in camp and our only focus will be on that opening game against Italy.”

Rob Kearney and Geordan Murphy were omitted due to injury while the likelihood of Munster hooker Jerry Flannery featuring in Rome in two weeks was slim, according to his provincial head coach Tony McGahan. Flannery suffered a calf strain on January 1 in his comeback from a different calf problem.

“He’s been included in the Irish squad, whether he’s available to play, I wouldn’t think he’s available for the first couple of games,” McGahan said yesterday. “Jerry’s only two weeks into a six-week injury so... whether he plays or not will be judged by their medical team.”