Central role for Kelly in revamp

RUGBY:  It's been a bit of a patchwork job, but with changes on the wings and every other unit on the team which finished the Six Nations campaign, and perhaps a prayer or two, Ireland put their best foot forward yesterday for Saturday's Test against New Zealand (8.05 a.m. Irish time).  GerryThornley reports from Dunedin

Meantime, the All Blacks have unleashed all their big guns in restoring a first-choice line-up, backboned by 13 from the victorious Super 12 side Cantebury Crusaders, with Jonah Lomu considered merely an impact replacement. Ye Gods.

Keen as Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan was to maintain as much stability as possible in selection, by preferring Ronan O'Gara to David Humphreys and Paul O'Connell to Malcolm O'Kelly, on top of omitting David Wallace from the original touring party, there are seven changes to the team which played France in the limp finale to the Six Nations.

With Shane Horgan, Kevin Maggs and Denis Hickie all injured, as indeed is Rob Henderson, and Peter Clohessy settling into his hammock, disruptions were unavoidable. With three of these orthodox inside centres, potentially the most acute disruption is of the midfield, where there is simply no readymade replacement.

Mel Deane not having done enough to convince O'Sullivan and the management that he is the man for the job, they have instead opted for an untried John Kelly-Brian O'Driscoll partnership.

One week's training together is hardly the ideal preparation for a collision with the All Blacks and the partnership of Aaron Mauger and Tana Umaga, but necessity being the mother of invention the Kelly-O'Driscoll axis will provide a more interchangeable alliance, as we lack an obvious crash-ball merchant. Geordan Murphy and Justin Bishop will man the wings.

Explaining this decision, O'Sullivan said: "It's a bit about getting the best players on the field on the day and John is comfortable in the centre. Justin Bishop has shown a good vein of form, particularly on the wing for us last Saturday, and Geordan's back in form again, so it balances out that way."

It's good to see that some trust has been put in the gifted Murphy, who at least won't be slugging it out with Lomu from the kick-off, while Bishop (who has revelled in a return to wing in the London Irish revolution) seems in the form of his life.

Explaining a recall for Ronan O'Gara at outhalf, O'Sullivan admitted that it was always "nip and tuck" between the Munster man and Ulster's David Humphreys. "I think at the moment David is suffering from a lack of first-class games for the last while, with Ulster being out of the European Cup early and him not having that many interpros, whereas Ronan has been playing right through to the ERC final. He's just that bit sharper at the moment."

At least the change at outhalf also renews the near-telepathic Munster combination of Peter Stringer and O'Gara at halfback, while Reggie Corrigan is utterly deserving of his chance to reclaim the number one jersey after Clohessy's retirement. As with the outhalf slot, in the second row the lack of training due to shin splints of Malcolm O'Kelly has compounded his relative lack of match practice and so again they've gone for a Munster man, Paul O'Connell. He has good form and plenty of recent games under his belt.

The inevitable selection of a genuine groundhog flanker in Keith Gleeson alongside Simon Easterby and Anthony Foley does give the back row a more balanced look. However, slight ongoing doubts about the fitness of either of the potential back-row replacements, Eric Miller and Alan Quinlan, has meant a belated call-up for David Wallace, who is on holidays in San Francisco and won't arrive here until tomorrow. Last summer he was in Copenhagen and bound for training in Poland when called up to the Lions in Australia.

Of the All Blacks' 64-10 over Italy last Saturday, O'Sullivan said: "I think they won the game probably playing below par. They still scored 60 points, still caused huge problems when they made incisions, but probably were a little bit sloppy at times by their own standards.

"If some ball hadn't gone to ground they might have scored a lot more points, so I'm assuming they believe they've a lot more in the tank for Saturday, and I suppose if you've more in the tank having scored 60 points you're in pretty good shape."

O'Sullivan said he didn't see any surprises in the All Black selection and it's a measure of the relative stability of the two teams that whereas the All Blacks make only four changes from the side which started in the countries' most recent clash last November, Ireland retain a mere six of their starting line-up that day.

As expected, New Zealand coach John Mitchell has invoked his much-discussed rotation policy and made 10 changes to the team which beat Italy last Saturday, with the all-conquering Crusaders' team having the lion's share. It's not exactly a populist selection, and with the Crusaders' Robbie Deans as his assistant the rest of the country must feel a little excluded.

Referring to the lop-sided selection, Mitchell said: "That's irrelevant really. What happened in the Super 12 is history and these guys are selected as All Blacks."

This is not unique, as 14 Aucklanders played in the All Blacks' win over Italy in the World Cup of 1995 and they provided the bulk of the Test side for much of the 1990s. Back in 1949, 11 of the Otago team were taken to South Africa in an era dominated by that province.

In any event, the four Otago players, who are based at Saturday's venue, are consigned to places on the bench, which may mean the biggest cheers at Carisbrook will be for the replacements. It is the first time since Laurie Mains' last game in charge, against France in 1995, that no Otago players are included in an All Black starting XV.

With only 24,000 of the 34,000 tickets pre-sold, local officials have been pleading for the Otago faithful to cement Carisbrook's Test-venue status.

New Zealand: L MacDonald (Canterbury); D Howlett (Auckland), T Umaga (Wellington), A Mauger (Canterbury), C Ralph (Canterbury); A Mehrtens (Canterbury), J Marshall (Canterbury); G Somerville (Canterbury), M Hamett (Canterbury), D Hewett (Canterbury), C Jack (Canterbury), N Maxwell (Canterbury), R Thorne (Canterbury, capt), S Robertson (Canterbury), R McCaw (Canterbury). Replacements: T Willis (Otago), J McDonnell (Otago), T Randell (Otago), M Holah (Waikato), B Kelleher (Otago), D Gibson (Canterbury), D Gibson (Canterbury), J Lomu (Wellington).

IRELAND: G Dempsey (Terenure College and Leinster); G Murphy (Leicester), B O'Driscoll (Blackrock College and Leinster), J Kelly (Cork Constitution and Munster), J Bishop (London Irish); R O'Gara (Cork Constitution and Munster), P Stringer (Shannon and Munster); R Corrigan (Leinster and Leinster), K Wood (Harlequins, capt), J Hayes (Shannon and Munster), G Longwell (Ballymena and Ulster), P O'Connell (Young Munster and Munster), S Easterby (Llanelli), A Foley (Shannon and Munster), K Gleeson (St Mary's College and Leinster). Replacements to be confirmed.