RUGBY: The primary benefit of having an eight-day turnaround between matches, as opposed to one of six days, according to Eddie O'Sullivan is simply "R & R", writes Gerry Thornley in Melbourne.
All the more so when you don't have a travelling day. Hence Ireland rested up for the second day running yesterday before beginning their preparations for the quarter-final against France on Sunday in the Telstra Dome by returning to training today.
Not that the day wasn't tinged with a little sadness and a little work. At around 4 p.m., the majority of the squad came down to the lobby of the Holiday Inn and bade farewell to Denis Hickie and Alan Quinlan. The poignancy of these enforced goodbyes are never fully masked by the forced smiles, high fives and hugs, all the more so when one is on crutches and the other has his arm in a sling.
Ireland's joint-leading try scorers at this World Cup will return to Dublin and Shannon Airports this morning. Tyrone Howe has travelled in the opposite direction and joined the squad yesterday.
The one obligatory event was a morning swim at the Melbourne Aquatic Centre where, rather disconcertingly one imagines, in the adjacent pool 35 air stewardess were assimilating evacuation from a plane with the use of dinghies and life jackets.
In the afternoon, go-karting was the most popular attraction, ahead of golf or just chilling out. The eight players not included in the 22-man match squad to play France, some of whom have been dubbed the "Terrigal Five", may have the minor consolation of attending the Melbourne races on Thursday at Flemington on what is Oaks Day, and Ladies Day.
The team will be announced to the players and then the media either side of another session tomorrow. Apart from one enforced change on the wing, where John Kelly will almost certainly replace Hickie, after running the Australians to a one-point win it would be no surprise if that was the extent of the alterations to the starting line-up.
Although Kelly and Shane Horgan are far more suited to playing on the right wing than the left, O'Sullivan might consider switching Horgan over, as he has had more game time and as he would then be in direct opposition to the equally physically imposing Aurelien Rougerie.
On the basis Brian O'Driscoll was brought more into the game against Australia when ending his 10-Test try drought, the Irish coach will probably stick with Ronan O'Gara at outhalf. O'Sullivan's toughest call will probably be in the back row, both starting and on the bench.
The pack could still do with some more go-forward ball, and Victor Costello is expected to come back into consideration this week after recovering from his knee injury, but again Simon Easterby's more all-round game may be hard to dislodge, and the think-tank will probably reckon Anthony Foley will be the better for his outing last week.
Foley tackled big but a couple of unusual handling errors were probably in part attributable to his lack of match practice this season, Saturday's 70-plus minute run-out being his longest stint in just four outings this season. He also remains a valued team leader.
So the best Costello may hope for is a place on the bench, and even there he may struggle to dislodge Eric Miller, who is a more versatile replacement and has done little or nothing wrong in his game time.
David Wallace is the most dynamic ball-carrier of any forward in the squad, but even though you'd wonder what his presence might have done even in the last quarter on Sunday, again it's hard to see him making the 22-man cut. As for the third back on the bench, the versatility of the starting three-quarters will probably allow O'Sullivan to pick a specialist winger, with Anthony Horgan presumably still ahead of Paddy Wallace and Howe in the scheme of things.
The French team, which will be confirmed at their base in Bondi Beach today, has been picking itself from a long way out, once prop Sylvain Marconnet and centre Tony Marsh overcame minor injuries early in the competition. Indeed, all 15 of the starting line-up trained separately last week, and none was risked from the starting line-up or even off the bench, injuries apart, in the win over the USA Eagles last Friday, which ensured France were one of only two teams to emerge from the pool stages with a maximum haul of 20 points.
Bernard Laporte's only apparent conundrums regard his bench, with Toulouse cult-hero Christian Labit vying with the heavy-tackling Sebastien Chabal as back-row cover. Given Frederic Michalak's ability to cover scrumhalf, this allows Laporte the luxury of two three-quarter line replacements, with Damien Traille and Pepito Elhorga likely to edge out Brian Liebenberg.
IRELAND (probable): G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, K Maggs, J Kelly; R O'Gara, P Stringer; R Corrigan, K Wood, J Hayes, M O'Kelly, P O'Connell, S Easterby, A Foley, K Gleeson. Replacements: S Byrne, M Horan, D O'Callaghan, E Miller, G Easterby, D Humphreys, A Horgan.
