O'Sullivan takes the bold approach

Ireland Team Selection: Whereas the All Blacks may be construed as being disrespectful to Ireland, Eddie O'Sullivan cannot be accused of playing it ultra-conservatively.

Indeed, in the composition of his remodelled back row and back three, the Irish coach has been relatively daring.

Anthony Foley, virtually a fixture in the side and one of the team's undoubted leaders, has been omitted altogether from the 22, as has the uncapped Andrew Trimble for another day, while Girvan Dempsey has been demoted to the bench to accommodate a backrow combination of Simon Easterby, Denis Leamy and Johnny O'Connor and an attacking outside three of Tommy Bowe, Geordan Murphy and Anthony Horgan.

The latter trio should give the team more counterattacking and finishing ability.

Easterby, passed fit despite sustaining a broken nose just over a fortnight ago, will also lead the side, with Leamy - who has played at his customary seven as well as six and 13 this season for Munster - reverting to his old schooldays position of number eight.

The inclusion of Leamy instead of Foley, who packed down between Easterby and O'Connor last season, gives the pack more pace and more ball-carrying and, with two opensides, potentially more presence at the breakdown - where Richie McCaw generally does the work of two men anyway.

"I suppose it's an indication of the way the whole selection is at the moment," said the coach.

"If you take the players who are unavailable out of the equation, I said I would go with the form selection and I think that back row is the best-form back row. The three players are all good on the ball, all good defenders, and it is really a form selection."

O'Sullivan appreciated Leamy had played little at eight. "But it's not something I'm concerned about. I think he's a very good footballer. He'll be at eight in the scrum," he said, implying he might alternate positions, and pointing to the inclusion of George Smith and Phil Waugh in the Australian back row.

The backrow selection also has more of an eye on the future, given Foley recently turned 32 and will be almost 34 come the 2007 World Cup in France.

The one sacrifice is in leadership and footballing nous, where Foley has few peers, and a nagging suspicion that the inclement weather may suit his abilities.

This is compounded by the composition of the replacements bench, where the callow quartet of Ulster forwards - the uncapped Rory Best, his brother Simon, the uncapped and unrelated Neil Best, and Matt McCullough - have between them started only one Test against front-line opposition.

O'Sullivan explained Neil Best was preferred to Foley for reasons of "balance and backrow cover, regarding lineout options and reshuffling in view of injuries" .

But bearing in mind Shane Byrne and Malcolm O'Kelly will do well to last the 80 minutes, the presence of the 61-times capped Foley on the bench - especially in a tight game - might have been of potentially more impact.

Ditto the overlooked David Wallace - another rare linebreaker in the Irish mix - and Trevor Brennan or Bob Casey.

Foley has effectively been an ever-present since regaining his place in the team after the 1999 World Cup, bar injury or being rested for games such as the second leg of last autumn's series against the USA Eagles. The one exception was his omission from the 2003 World Cup quarter-final, when Ireland lost 43-21 to France.

Had Easterby not been fit, O'Sullivan said, Foley would have played and captained the side.

For the record, the team shows seven changes from the side beaten by Wales in the Six Nations finale last March. Three are enforced - Gordon D'Arcy, Anthony Horgan and Donncha O'Callaghan coming in for the injured Brian O'Driscoll, Denis Hickie and Paul O'Connell.

In addition to Leamy ahead of Foley, Bowe and Marcus Horan are preferred to Dempsey and Reggie Corrigan, while Shane Horgan returns for Kevin Maggs.

Only four of this side started against the All Blacks four years ago - Shane Horgan, Peter Stringer, Hayes and O'Kelly.

That the All Blacks have completely changed their line-up from as recently as last Saturday, however, even resting Dan Carter, would certainly seem to give Ireland a better chance than had they been first or third on the tourists' rota, though needless to say, O'Sullivan wasn't countenancing the notion that the All Blacks were being in any way insulting to their hosts.

"It's a sign of strength I think. We'd all like to be in a position to name 15 different players and not lose any quality or strength. I think that's why New Zealand would be the envy of a lot of countries. I'm not sure many countries could do that. We certainly couldn't. It's not disrespectful. They have phenomenal strength in depth and I think Graham (Henry) is playing his cards very smartly in terms of keeping his squad fresh and motivated."

Nor was O'Sullivan having any truck with the suggestion the crowd boo the All Blacks from first minute to last in response to "Speargate".

"The crowd will be a big help if we get on the front foot, and that's our role," said O'Sullivan in highlighting Ireland's good record there lately.

"I don't think there's any value in anybody booing anybody on Saturday. It's an historic occasion and hopefully people will enjoy the game, and if Ireland put in a big performance you never know."

With one starting and six on the bench, Ulster's representation is easily the province's most numerous in an Irish squad since Willie Anderson famously led an Irish side featuring eight Ulstermen against the All Blacks in 1989 and is a welcome turnaround after some relatively marginalised years since the turn of the Millennium.

Credit for the recent resurgence in their production line must go to Allen Clarke, who revitalised Ulster's academy, Mark McCall and even to a degree Alan Solomons, even if McCall's actions have spoken louder than Solomons's words.