O'Sullivan gives youth a chance

Ireland boss Eddie O’Sullivan intends to use Friday night’s A fixture against France to assess the potential of the nation’s next batch of Test hopefuls.

O’Sullivan has blended youth and experience in his team selection with emerging prospects such as Roger Wilson and Tommy Bowe playing alongside seasoned campaigners like Alan Quinlan and Bernard Jackman.

He said: “There are a lot of young boys in the side who we need to have a look at. It would be an opportunity missed not to see some of them in action.

“But there are veterans like Quinlan in there too and if we things aren’t working out we have plenty of experience on the bench to call on.

“If this was a series of five game games I might have taken a different attitude but I thought it was time to let some of these young players loose and see what happens.”

The Donnybrook clash is Ireland’s only A fixture this season – a situation O’Sullivan hopes will be rectified by the addition of more matches in the near future.

“We don’t have to beat France – it’s more about information. We’ve been starved of this information over the last few seasons because the A games have not been on the roster,” he said.

“Everyone has now begun to realise how important they are and thankfully they are starting to trickle back. I hope that over the next few years they will be back onto the agenda again.”

Connacht boss Michael Bradley has been appointed head coach for the shadow side and will be supported by Ulster assistant Allen Clarke.

Team: B Cunningham (Ulster), T Bowe (Ulster), K Lewis (Leinster), D Quinlan (Leinster), A Horgan (Munster), P Wallace (Ulster), K Campbell (Ulster), R McCormack (Ulster), B Jackman (Connacht), S Best (Ulster), M McCullough (Ulster), B Casey (London Irish), A Quinlan (Munster), S Jennings (Leinster), R Wilson (Ulster).

Replacements: P Shields (Ulster), R Hogan (Connacht), B Gissing (Leinster), D Wallace (Munster), B O’Riordan (Leinster), P Burke (Munster), S Payne (Munster).