O'Sullivan expects a full pick for Namibia

Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan expects to have a full strength squad at his disposal when he names his side tomorrow morning …

Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan expects to have a full strength squad at his disposal when he names his side tomorrow morning for Sunday's match with Namibia.

Keith Wood (dead leg) and Anthony Horgan (lower back) have been kept out of contact sessions since Saturday's win over Romania, while lock Gary Longwell is taking longer to recover from a slight calf strain than was initially anticipated.

However, all are expected to be fit if called upon, as is centre Brian O'Driscoll who has recovered from the damage he sustained when he was hit by Petru Balan's late tackle. Scans have also shown number eight Anthony Foley, who limped out at the weekend is suffering from nothing more than bruising to his knee.

O'Sullivan is expected to keep changes to a minimum, although prop John Hayes is expected to play after returning from torn calf which kept him on the sidelines throughout the warm-up programme.

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Namibia got their campaign off to an enthusiastic, if ultimately fruitless start this morning as they suffered a 67-14 defeat at the hands of Argentina.

O'Sullivan, meanwhile, called for referees to make more use of the video replay to avoid 'blocking' rows such as the one that has resurfaced between England coach Clive Woodward and his Australia counterpart Eddie Jones over the last few days.

While O'Sullivan agrees with Woodward that attacking sides are using decoy runners to obstruct opponents trying to make a tackle, he does not believe the incident in the build-up to Joe Roff's try which was highlighted by the England manager during Friday night's opening game against Argentina was such a manoeuvre.

However, as the row rumbles on, O'Sullivan admits a solution has to be found and fears that at some stage in the competition, one team is going to have a serious and legitimate grievance.

"These are instantaneous decisions which the referee is not always in the best position to make," he said. "There are going to be some very hard calls further on in the tournament and I would hate to see a game turn on something like that. As a coach, you would find it very hard to take.

"I spoke to Clive a long time ago and I know how he feels on the matter. One way of resolving it would be to prevent teams passing behind players' backs. I wouldn't have any dramas about that because it would solve the problem straightaway.

"Another way would be to make more use of the television match official. If he had been called on Friday, the decision could have been made in good faith with the aid of a TV replay.

"Ironically, I didn't think Australia did anything wrong on that occasion but on Sunday, Japan scored a try after a decoy runner cleaned one of the Scottish tacklers out.

"Games can be won and lost on moments like that and the referees need some help."