All Black strength is in reserve

The All Blacks may be sending out a relatively unfamiliar bunch of starting dirt-trackers for tonight's meeting with the Irish A side at Ravenhill, but it's doubtful whether any ground has ever witnessed such an illustrious bunch of benchmen.

Jonah Lomu, unquestionably the biggest name in the game today, is amongst those on the replacements' bench, along with the points machine himself Andrew Mehrtens, his classy test match half-back partner Byron Kelleher and the resident All Black captain and hooker Anton Oliver. Imagine containing the All Blacks for however long and then seeing that lot being unleashed at you?

Admittedly, John Mitchell's first starting team since taking over as All Black coach is a comparatively unknown quantity, and features nine players who will be wearing the All Black jersey for the first time. They are full back Ben Blair, winger Roger Randle, centre Nathan Mauger, outhalf David Hill, locks Simon Maling and Dion Waller, prop Dave Hewett, number eight Paul Miller and hooker Tom Willis.

Viewed in another light, of course, that should mean this side will be bursting with pride on the night. Otago's Willis, understudy to Oliver, will lead the team.

All in all, this still looks a daunting enough task for what is a typically patchwork Irish A side. Declan Kidney and his Munster sidekick Niall O'Donovan have proved particularly adept at the resourceful task of coaching an ever-changing A line-up and once more they've had to play with the unfamiliar hand that has been dealt to them.

The Irish A side retains five of the starting line-up that last played at this level, when losing by 55-23 to their French counterparts last February, also at this venue. In addition to three members of the tight five (Simon Best, Shane Byrne and Mick O'Driscoll), Anthony Horgan and Tony McWhirter are amongst the five changes to last week's original selection.

An interesting contest is given added intrigue by the presence of four Irish players making their first bow at this level: the upwardly mobile Connacht full back Gavin Duffy, the newly eligible, Kiwi-born Munster centre Jason Holland, another up-and-coming versatile young back in Paddy Wallace (who has only started a couple of games for Ulster this season at outhalf) and Leinster's richly impressive find at openside, Keith Gleeson.

Quite a few markers are likely to be thrown down here.

IRELAND A: G Duffy (Galwegians and Connacht); J Topping (Ballymena), J Bishop (London Irish), J Holland (Midleton and Munster), A Horgan (Cork Constitution and Munster); P Wallace (Ballymena and Ulster), B O'Meara (Cork Constitution and Leinster, capt); R Corrigan (Lansdowne and Leinster), S Byrne (Blackrock College and Leinster), S Best (Belfast Harlequins and Ulster), L Cullen (Blackrock College and Leinster), M O'Driscoll (Cork Constitution and Munster), A Quinlan (Shannon and Munster), T McWhirter (Dungannon and Ulster), K Gleeson (St Mary's College and Leinster). Replacements: P Shields (Ballymena and Ulster), J Fitzpatrick (Dungannon and Ulster), P O'Connell (Young Munster and Munster), A Ward (Ballynahinch and Ulster), B Willis (Blackrock College and Leinster), A Dunne (Old Belvedere and Leinster), P McKenna (St Mary's College and Leinster).

NEW ZEALAND: B Blair (Canterbury); R Randle (Waikato), N Mauger (Canterbury), P Alatini (Otago), C Ralph (Canterbury); D Hill (Waikato), M Robinson (North Harbour); D Hewett (Canterbury), T Willis (Otago, capt), K Meeuws (Otago), D Waller (Wellington), S Maling (Otago), J Collins (Wellington), M Holah (Waikato), P Miller (Otago). Replacements: A Oliver (Otago), G Feek (Canterbury), G Jack (Canterbury), R McCaw (Canterbury), B Kelleher (Otago), A Mehrtens (Canterbury), J Lomu (Wellington).