Tension rises as axe is prepared

Ireland squad training:Thirty-five days to the Coupe du Monde and the countdown quickens today when the Irish squad of 48 currently based in Limerick will be culled to 36 or 38. The competition for the final few places in the 30-man World Cup squad - to be named the morning after Ireland play Scotland in Edinburgh on Saturday week - will intensify next week and Eddie O'Sullivan's selection against the Scots will give a strong indicator as to which players are in contention.

Aside from the frontline XV who were excused duty in Argentina, the back-up props, hookers, half-backs and centre appear to have been nailed down, with O'Sullivan admitting "there are some places up for grabs in the back five" of the pack and "the back three" in the backs.

In contrast to many of his leading counterparts, such as Bernard Laporte, who named his 30-man squad on June 14th before bringing Les Bleus together on July 2nd, O'Sullivan has chosen to wait until virtually the mid-August deadline. Aside from the exact make-up of his 30-man squad, the Irish coach sees an obvious need to have potential injury replacements in camp for as long as possible as well as maintaining a competitive dynamic.

"We're not going to lose anything by waiting and we'll certainly be wiser when we do make those decisions," he said.

Players like Tony Buckley, Ryan Caldwell, Tomás O'Leary and even, perhaps, Robert Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald may not ultimately make the cut, but were praised by defensive coach Graham Steadman.

"I've been very impressed with the application of a lot of the younger lads in the last two months. They haven't been over-awed and they've made rapid strides over the last two months. It's been a massive boost that they've put the senior players under pressure and made competition for places a lot stiffer than this time last year," said Steadman.

Save for Shane Jennings (hand) and Barry Murphy (ankle), whose summer operations appear to have cruelly ended their hopes of making it to the World Cup, O'Sullivan expects to have a clean bill of health next week.

Gordon D'Arcy (slight calf strain), David Wallace (recurring ankle problem) and Ronan O'Gara (sore knee) are being eased off in training. O'Gara's twisted knee is sore and tender, "but there's absolutely no issue whatsoever; we're not worried about him at all".

In addition to the game against Italy in Ravenhill on August 24th, O'Sullivan confirmed that the proposed friendly against Bayonne on August 16th, during their five-day training camp in Capbreton on the south-west coast of France "looks like it's going to come off.

"I've only heard in the last 24 hours that the referee has been appointed for that," he said.

"There's a chance that the guys playing against Scotland probably won't play against Italy, and vice versa, and there'll be some sort of blend in Capbreton. Those games are important to hit the ground pretty much running in the pool matches."

Strongly indicating that much more use will be made of the entire 30-man squad in this World Cup compared to four years ago, O'Sullivan said the days of "experimentation" are virtually over.

"When we go into the tournament, every time we don't pick our first XV we can't say we're experimenting. We're in a tournament situation so we're going to try and pick teams that can go on the pitch and play together.

"I think the word experimental is misleading in that respect. We're trying to build a squad now that's interchangeable."

Furthermore, the squad is altogether fitter and physically stronger than four years ago.

"We were only talking about it earlier and I think we're way ahead to where we were four years ago, in every aspect of our play," commented assistant coach Niall O'Donovan.

"I think the rest that the 15 guys got by not going to Argentina, you can see where they are now. They're way ahead of where they were and the other 30 are working hard to close the gap."

O'Sullivan countered that, of course, many of Ireland's rivals are better than four years ago, notably Argentina. Even so, given the preparations and carefully managed fitness levels of the last four years, along with the settled and vastly experienced nature of the nominal frontline team, and allowing for the proviso of a brutally tough draw, Ireland can travel to the World Cup as genuine contenders.

The coach echoed the sentiments of the players in stating: "Are we capable of winning it? I think we are. The reason I say that, and I don't think it's being bullish - there's reasonable logic to it - I think we've shown in recent years that we are capable of beating the top teams. And to win a World Cup you're going to have to beat a couple of the top teams at some point in the competition.

"And the top teams are pretty much the obvious ones. We have beaten Australia, we have beaten South Africa and we know we can beat France - although we don't do it often enough, I suppose - so all those things would indicate we're capable of it."

"I don't think there's anything wrong in saying that but whether we will or not remains to be seen. I don't have any problem facing up to that. The team are very, very focused, and very hungry; they're a good team and a good squad. I don't think there's anything wrong in having an ambition like that.

"It's a healthy ambition to have and if we don't have it now, we might never have it.

"But I know at the same time that talk is cheap. You've got to go out and do it. That's the big challenge."