Knock on Wood is selectors' main worry

Wounded souls apart, the physical damage to Keith Wood's ankle ligaments is the primary concern for the Irish management in the countdown to their second outing of the season against Canada on Sunday week.

Encouragingly, the extent of the injury is not as bad as was first feared, manager Pat Whelan maintaining: "He (Wood) will be okay, hopefully."

The Irish captain himself was moderately optimistic. "Nothing is torn or broken. The ligaments are swollen and I will have my ankle in a cast for the next few days. I'll stay on crutches in the meantime and then have a look at things. I'll just have to wait and see."

If the Lions hooker is ruled out, his absence would deprive the team of one of its few natural leaders. Wood's value was highlighted as much by his absence for the second period, as for his inspirational presence in the first half.

Ross Nesdale is a good player and the scale of Saturday's second-half onslaught could not be attributed to Wood's departure. It was not the same as Scotland's second-half obliteration of Ireland after Jim Staples' departure from the Murrayfield turf last season.

However, long gone are the days when Ireland could field, in one team, a host of experienced decision-makers and leaders like Des Fitzgerald, Ciaran Fitzgerald, Philip Matthews, Donal Lenihan, Brendan Mullin and co. By contrast, captaincy material is thin on the ground, with only Wood, Staples and Niall Hogan, currently out of favour, springing to mind. Eric Elwood, who inherited the role on Saturday, seems the most viable candidate.

Wood's health apart, changes are likely to be kept to a minimum when the team is announced, most probably next Sunday. When asked whether Saturday's team was too inexperienced, Brian Ashton retorted: "Not now they're not." Given that seven caps were ultimately blooded against the best side in the world, the Irish coach is likely to stick with the vast bulk of the side.

The main areas of debate may centre on the blind-side flanker position and on the wing. David Corkery, who made an earlier-than-expected comeback for Bristol last week, and the bigtackling Trevor Brennan, might be considered, but David Erskine, who was a tactical substitution for Eddie Halvey, seems best placed to win his second cap against Canada. It is also likely that the selectors will check on the fitness of Richard Wallace, Jonathan Bell and Conor O'Shea, with Wallace the most viable proposition and thus a strong contender to return to the side at the expense of John McWeeney.

This season, Bell's nagging hamstring problem has limited him to just one brief, try-scoring cameo as a replacement for Northampton against Connacht in the European Conference. O'Shea himself estimates that his broken arm will not have healed in time for the Canada match, although he should be available for selection for the side to play Italy in Bologna on December 20th.

Another name which could be thrown into the selectors' hat for that encounter is Simon Geoghegan, who is expected to make his latest comeback attempt for Bath on Saturday week.

Meanwhile, the All Blacks move on to Leeds today. They play Emerging England at Huddersfield's McAlpine Stadium tomorrow prior to the first of two Tests against England at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Josh Kronfeld and Jonah Lomu have been given the chance to claim a place in the All Blacks' side for the first English Test. Both players are named in the New Zealand side to take on Emerging England tomorrow. Injured All Black captain Sean Fitzpatrick has not been named in the side, increasing speculation that he will now miss the first Test against England. What role he will be able to play in the tour remains to be seen.

(See also pages 8 and 9)