Corrigan facing fitness battle

Ireland prop Reggie Corrigan is a major doubt for Sunday’s Pool A encounter with Namibia in Sydney.

The Leinster front-row is part of the side named to face the African makeweights by Eddie O’Sullivan but the Irish coach admitted Corrigan may not make it after falling heavily on his shoulder in training.

“It is nothing more than bruising but there must be an element of doubt because it has happened so recently,” said O’Sullivan.

Corrigan will be given every chance to get over the knock but Marcus Horan stands by to return after becoming one of five men to lose their place after Saturday’s win over Romania.

The most notable inclusion is that of fly-half Ronan O’Gara, who will look to put pressure on David Humphreys for the starting slot against Argentina on October 26 in the game which should decide who accompanies Australia into the quarter-finals.

Humphreys laid down the challenge with a man of the match display last weekend, which leaves O’Gara with some ground to make up.

“Ronan was unfortunate in that he was injured for most of the warm-up programme and he could only play in the final game against Scotland,” said O’Sullivan.

“I wanted to give Ronan a crack at it because I need my best side on the pitch against Argentina and there is still an element of doubt over who my first choice is.”

O’Sullivan revealed lock Gary Longwell was not considered due to a calf injury which is taking longer to heal than he first thought and number eight Anthony Foley has been allowed to rest a minor knee complaint.

In fact, Ireland will field a completely different back-row to the one which started in Gosford, with Simon Easterby, Alan Quinlan and Eric Miller all coming in.

Prop John Hayes is also recalled after an impressive appearance as a replacement against Romania, with O’Sullivan at pains to stress his refusal to play a weakened team against a side badly beaten by Argentina last night.

“I know some of the players not selected are disappointed but in a professional game I would be annoyed if that wasn’t the case,” he said.

“But they were aware of my thoughts before the tournament began. I will not rotate the team for the sake of it.”

Assistant coach Declan Kidney watched the Namibians at first hand last night and confirmed the widely held view that though the Africans tried hard, they didn’t have enough forward power to keep the Pumas at bay.

“They came up against an experienced Argentine front-row who knew what they were doing,” he said.

“Most teams would have struggled against the Pumas last night but they showed a lot of enthusiasm and tried to run the ball as often as they could which could make them dangerous on Sunday.”

Ireland team to play Namibia in World Cup Pool A at Aussie Stadium, Sydney on Sunday, October 19 (11am Irish Time).

G Dempsey (Leinster); S Horgan (Leinster), B O’Driscoll (Leinster), K Maggs (Bath), D Hickie (Leinster); R O’Gara (Munster), P Stringer (Munster); R Corrigan (Leinster), K Wood (Munster, cpt), J Hayes (Munster), M O’Kelly (Leinster), P O’Connell (Munster), S Easterby (Llanelli), A Quinlan (Munster), E Miller (Leinster).

Replacements: S Byrne (Leinster), M Horan (Munster), D O’Callaghan (Munster), V Costello (Leinster), G Easterby (Rotherham), D Humphreys (Ulster), J Kelly (Munster).