Miller can speed up decision making

In what has already become time-honoured practice, the Irish think tank will convene this evening to pick the starting XV and replacements for the Scottish game at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Once again, the prime area of discussion will be the make-up of the back row, with some thought also for the inside centre position. However, where before the backrow conundrum was deemed to be from a position of strength, now it's almost considered to be an area of weakness.

It can't be that simple, of course. That the Irish back row were made to look decidedly plodding by the more dynamic and balanced English trio of Hill, Dallaglio and Back was also in part because the tight five didn't deliver as expected in the setpieces. The line-out was haphazard (or slaphazard?), and the scrum neither tweaked nor provided quick ball.

Futhermore, the team seemed caught in a tactical straitjacket which made the reliance on Victor Costello's pick-and-go utterly one-dimensional. Betraying a nagging concern about the team's tactical leadership and flexibility, there appeared an inability to think on their feet, until Eric Miller came on 15 minutes from time and immediately speeded up the decision-making from the base of the scrum.

One senses that Conor McGuinness and David Humphreys especially could have more impact here. After all, Eric Elwood wouldn't be keeping mum if he thought changes in tack were required, while Humphreys showed his ability to call the shots in Ulster's campaign.

Quite how much this is down to Humphreys not grasping responsibility in an Irish shirt, or not being given it, is difficult to gauge. But either way, he should be given more slack.

But when all's said and done, both Costello and Andy Ward looked below par. By his own admission, Ward is not a ferreter on the ground a la Back, and it could be that this Irish team's evolution is not entirely to his suiting. Even so, he was slower than most back rowers to the breakdown last Saturday week and untypically missed a few tackles in both the Welsh and English games.

All of this is particularly surprising given he had arguably been Ireland's best player, pound for pound, over much of the last 12 months. Certainly few team-mates have had a better work-rate.

Perhaps there's an element of second-season syndrome in this, and perhaps also he is physically and mentally a little exhausted. Looking at some of the jaded Munster and Ulster contingent with Shannon and Ballymena, he wouldn't be the only one.

Ward was also Ulster's main weapon for much of their campaign, even to the point of playing until his wife went into labour on the night of the quarter-final win over Toulouse. Then he damaged medial knee ligaments in the final against Colomiers.

To come back within three weeks of that may partly explain his below-par performances against Wales and England. Granted, he has since come through two games for his club Ballynahinch last Tuesday and Saturday. Although sources in Dungannon and DLSP say Ward didn't look 100 per cent right in either game, the two run-outs may well have done him some good. Furthermore, Warren Gatland's untypically public critique of Ward's performance could be interpreted as a deliberate means of geeing him up.

Certainly Costello's imposing 80-minute effort against Terenure last Saturday will have done him the world of good. The watching Philip Danaher will assuredly have reported back that Costello looked in better fettle. The 6 ft 6 in, 18 stone-plus Costello needs regular games more than most. Due to the rib cartilage injury he sustained against France, it's worth noting that Costello had only played 14 minutes of rugby on the three Saturdays before the English game.

The relative merits and demerits of Costello and Eric Miller have been well documented. Suffice to say that they are completely different players, so the choice at number eight is largely based on what game plan the Irish think tank will favour. Do they seek to counter Scotland's typically mobile, rucking unit with something similar, or seek to impose something different on the Scots?

Indeed, there could be a temptation to revert to the Miller-Costello-O'Cuinneagain combination which performed so well against France, with O'Cuinneagain patrolling that corridor inside Humphreys to good effect. Indeed, Costello's untimely injury may well have cost Ireland the win that day.

However, the inclusion of Trevor Brennan in an expanded squad of 23 provides a fly in the ointment. His replacement cameo against France partly backfired, although his performance might have been viewed in a different light had Humphreys landed the late penalty which followed Brennan's rampaging burst from the restart to create the chance.

Nonetheless, he mightn't be that well suited to coming off the bench cold in the cauldron of the last half-hour, which is how his three caps have come so far. Besides, his main weapon against the Scots would be to knock them back behind the gain line and so stymie their quick rucking game at source. Better too, to do it in the first 20 minutes than the last 20.

Brennan was good, focused and disciplined in both the A international against England and for St Mary's last Saturday - when only giving away one penalty, unluckily at that, late on.

Long-term, word has it that the think tank are considering Brennan as a possible second row, or at any rate cover for the back five as much as the back row, cometh the World Cup. So even if Brennan doesn't make the starting XV, it could be that he'll make the bench alongside another back row man, with Mick Galwey missing out.

But the Champion Hurdle could be easier than second-guessing this back row. Throw any five horses into a bet and back them in trebles across the board and you have 10 bets.

A stab in the dark says Brennan, Miller, O'Cuinneagain. Each-way at that. At least one of them should be in there. As for inside centre, though Rob Henderson takes the ball up better (a ploy under-used against England when the biff, bang wallop wasn't working around the fringes) and must be pushing closer than ever, Jonathan Bell has been picked any time he's been fit and thus probably will be again.