Strong Side for Italy Clash
Eddie O’Sullivan has named a strong side for the match against Italy on Saturday. Geordan Murphy comes back into the side in place of Tyrone Howe, who has been dropped completely from O’Sullivan’s line-up.
O’Sullivan obviously believes that Murphy is capable of partaking in the match despite having been out of action for the last 9 months. With Howe dropped, David Humphrey’s is the only Ulster man in the 22, highlighting the gap between the provinces. The return of Munster’s star forwards, Donncha O’Callaghan and Marcus Horan has exacerbated this divide, with the two Munster-men coming in place of Ulster’s Simon Best and Gary Longwell.
Ireland (V Italy): G Dempsey (Leinster), S Horgan (Leinster), G D’Arcy (Leinster), B O’Driscoll (Leinster, capt), G Murphy (Leicester), R O’Gara (Munster), P Stringer (Munster); R Corrigan (Leinster), S Byrne (Leinster), J Hayes (Munster), M O’Kelly (Leinster), P O’Connell (Munster), S Easterby (Llanelli), K Gleeson (Leinster), A Foley (Munster).
Replacements: F Sheahan (Munster), M Horan (Munster), D O’Callaghan (Munster), V Costello (Leinster), D Humphreys (Ulster), G Easterby (Rotherham), K Maggs (Bath).
March 22nd, 2004 at 5:39 pm
incase anyone hadnt noticed that there no cap between the provinces, if any thing it has been proven the the likes of munster and leinster relie too heavely on their big names resulting in a lac squad deepth and consistancy. compared to ulster(top of the celtic league and celtic cup winners).and the omission of ulster players from the irish set up is nothing new although their are few who could make the step up there are some, at least 4 i can think of.