Murphy, Kearney included in squad

RUGBY: Virtually anyone who is proven, fit and in form was named yesterday in Eddie O'Sullivan's 35-man squad for the forthcoming Six Nations. There's a modicum of newish faces, but for the most part the squad represents form and the extraordinarily rude health, literally, in which Irish rugby finds itself.

As a benchmark for the World Cup, Trevor Hogan's upwardly mobile progress in his new Leinster surrounds and Mick O'Driscoll's return to action with Munster have seen them force their way in; Tommy Bowe and Jerry Flannery return from their injury-enforced absence last autumn, while Barry Murphy and Robert Kearney are new faces.

In effect, the Ireland coach admits he has deferred his more difficult decisions until he trims his squad - ideally to the 22 for the opener in Cardiff on Saturday fortnight - next Wednesday: "The form guys have got in the door, but the big calls will come next week when you pick the 22 for Cardiff."

Even then, some selections may wait, notably at hooker, blindside flanker - where Simon Easterby is pushing Neil Best for his old number-six jersey - and on the left wing, where a rejuvenated Denis Hickie is pressing Andrew Trimble.

Ireland currently boasts an amazing injury profile, with only the Ulster flanker Stephen Ferris ruled out, with a hand injury.

"Let's not get carried away until next Sunday, because we have another weekend of heavy lifting, but all going well you couldn't ask for any better at the moment," said O'Sullivan, who will be especially twitchy when viewing this weekend's games.

O'Sullivan warmly welcomed Flannery's return and, all things being equal, last season's rookie of the year would probably be first choice, but after just one substitute's appearance in Geneva last Sunday he would probably require a big game from the start for Munster against Leicester on Saturday to have anything like sufficient rugby under his belt in time for the Welsh game.

"The thing for him now is match time and hopefully he'll get another chance to play a bit again next weekend in the last Heineken game," said O'Sullivan.

"It's very early for him in terms of international rugby because he hasn't had much match practice, but the fact that he's back is a big plus for everybody."

Even with three specialist hookers, Flannery's return, combined with Bernard Jackman's run of form, must assuredly have put pressure on Frankie Sheahan and Rory Best for their selection.

O'Sullivan acknowledged as much, albeit with the strong hint that Jackman might be one of those to be included in the A game against England.

Alas, much to O'Sullivan's disappointment, that is the only A game this year - ironically on the Friday before the game against France - the French having pulled out of the secondary fixtures on account of the pressures exerted by their club championship.

"It's like anything, when you stop doing it it's hard to regenerate it. In fairness to England, they've continued it, even though they're under as much pressure."

As ever with these squads, all the more so with the World Cup in mind, the omissions are as notable as the inclusions.

Although Alan Quinlan's suspension will be served in time for the Six Nations, O'Sullivan has predictably not included the Munster flanker, who will have had no rugby in over six weeks.

As ever, backrow is the most competitive area, with Shane Jennings, Johnny O'Connor and Anthony Foley among the notable absentees, which underlines the many obstacles in Stephen Keogh's way.

O'Sullivan admitted the in-form hooker Bernard Jackman is "right up there".

Hogan's emergence has seen Leo Cullen, Matt McCullough and Bob Casey drop off the radar.

Brian Blaney, Ronnie McCormack and Jeremy Staunton are others left out of the loop.

On announcing his 40-man French squad, Bernard Laporte declared - with one eye firmly on the World Cup - that all his players would get some game time in the Six Nations.

Given O'Sullivan is the other long-serving coach in the Six Nations, it seems a bit late in the day for such experimentation - besides which, needless to say, it is not O'Sullivan's style.

"We've always said that the Six Nations is a very big competition for Ireland, particularly for the Union in terms of generating finance, so we never muck around with the Six Nations no matter what goes on," he said.

"We always put our best foot forward in every game."

Ireland Squad

Forwards (18)

Neil Best(Ulster)

Rory Best (Ulster)

Simon Best (Ulster)

Simon Easterby (Llanelli)

Jerry Flannery (Munster)

Keith Gleeson (Leinster)

John Hayes (Munster)

Jamie Heaslip (Leinster)

Trevor Hogan (Leinster)

Marcus Horan (Munster)

Denis Leamy (Munster)

Donncha O'Callaghan(Munster)

Paul O'Connell (Munster)

Mick O'Driscoll (Munster)

Malcolm O'Kelly (Leinster)

Frankie Sheahan (Munster)

David Wallace (Munster)

Bryan Young (Ulster)

Backs (17)

Isaac Boss (Ulster)

Tommy Bowe (Ulster)

Girvan Dempsey (Leinster)

Gordon D'Arcy (Leinster)

Luke Fitzgerald (Leinster)

Shane Horgan (Leinster)

Denis Hickie (Leinster)

Robert Kearney (Leinster)

John Kelly (Munster)

Barry Murphy (Munster)

Geordan Murphy (Leicester)

Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster)

Ronan O'Gara (Munster)

Eoin Reddan (Wasps)

Peter Stringer (Munster)

Andrew Trimble (Ulster)

Paddy Wallace (Ulster)