EARLY DAYS yet, but it's pretty evident the new Irish management are attempting to bring a new dimension to Ireland's selection strategy, and with that has come much more of a squad ethic as well as an attempt to develop much more potential for variation on any given match day, writes Gerry Thornley

Of course, this had been de rigueurin international set-ups for some time. For example, there remains a school of thought within the coaching fraternity that the much debated "rotational" strategy of the All Blacks' managerial think tank ought actually have been the template for success at the last World Cup. In the event, the next closest to it, Jake White's Springboks (the majority of whose first XV had also controversially been excused duty from their European tour of two years ago) won out over an English side which had stumbled upon a winning formula.

That the All Blacks came unstuck in the quarter-finals was in large part down to the kind of one-off, inspired knock-out performance that the French, especially, can produce on any given day. The All Blacks no doubt also rue a panic-driven switch to pick-and-go tactics rather than the higher tempo game, with its emphasis on offloading the ball and reducing the number of rucks/breakdowns, which they had employed so successfully for much of the preceding four years.

Privately too, they might also regret leaving some of their more experienced players in the stands on that seismic Cardiff night but the point being that the evolution of a selection strategy designed to have at least two players for every position was not only ahead of its time but is also now being emulated.

With his first two selections Warren Gatland raised eyebrows in Wales and beyond by cultivating a squad system, and Martin Johnson is also intent on developing a selection strategy designed to having two viable alternatives for every position.

Nor is this strategy solely with the World Cup in mind, for it is clearer than ever that the same 15 players cannot cope with the physical and mental demands of Test rugby over three or four successive weekends, never mind three or four years. The reward for Wales and Gatland was instantaneous.

Not alone does this strategy keep players fresher, it also keeps them keener, and the competition for places and ability to change tactics mid-game by liberal use of the bench was also a key factor in Wales' success last year. The introduction of Stephen Donald as an alternative playmaker to Dan Carter was hugely instrumental in turning around the All Blacks' decisive Tri Nations win away to Australia and the All Blacks have continued to experiment with Carter as second five-eights in the recent Bledisloe Cup win over Australia in Hong Kong.

Declan Kidney and co are clearly of similar mind. The new Irish head coach is a shrewd, intelligent man, and a la Gatland's start with Wales, has spoken of developing "a panel". By contrast, while Eddie O'Sullivan got many things right, a squad ethic, liberal and tactical use of the bench and with it the potential for tactical variation scarcely existed.

Previously, for an Irish replacement to be introduced before the 75th minute almost required an act of parliament. The net effect was that those on the fringes of the chosen XV usually became dispirited as well as being profligately surplus to requirements, never more so than in the World Cup.

It was always striking how Graham Henry invariably had Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith, former head coaches at Test level in their own right, alongside him at team announcements and post-match press conferences. It was clear that Henry sounded out and listened to their views, and acted upon them.

No coach can be 100 per cent right all the time, and it's clear also that not only did Kidney go to great pains to have the experience and impressive coaching pedigree of Gert Smal, Les Kiss and Alan Gaffney in his corner, but as became abundantly clear in enlisting the services and views of Tony McGahan, Jim Williams and co at Munster, he is not a one-man show with Ireland. Coaching has changed, and Kidney has changed along with it.

An example of this may have been the employment of Stephen Ferris and not Alan Quinlan in the second row for the last 25 minutes in Thomond Park last Saturday. Perhaps it was Smal's suggestion that Ferris might have the physical attributes to be pressed into service at lock. In any event, it is designed to increase options, as evidenced by only four players finishing the game in the positions they started.

The net effect for those of us in the press box is that forecasting Kidney's selections is set to be acutely hazardous. Indeed, one senses that, with this desire to develop "a panel", there will be a few more surprises in store when the starting XV and replacements to play the All Blacks are announced today. More to the point, the same applies to the players which, as we saw with Wales last year, serves to keep everybody in the panel on their toes. Suddenly, for example, you could have any one of Malcolm O'Kelly, Bob Casey, Alan Quinlan or Ferris as secondrow back-up.

Yet the main issues would appear to be the call between Jerry Flannery and Rory Best at hooker, the composition of the backrow and the even more endless permutations with regard to the back three. There's an argument for accommodating Shane Jennings as well as David Wallace in the backrow, but it would be hard to omit the latter, Jamie Heaslip or, after Saturday, Ferris.

With the forecast for another windy weekend and the prospect of Dan Carter's boot going to work in Croke Park, Kidney may well decide to re-instate a more experienced fullback, be it Rob Kearney, Geordan Murphy or Girvan Dempsey rather than risk Keith Earls, from the start anyway. But calling Kidney's thoughts in advance has never been a profitable exercise, and even more so now.

Then it will be countdown time and there could be no better visitors this week than the All Blacks. It's a surprise that some colleagues are not fans. Akin to Brazil in football, they are consistently the great entertainers, the trendsetters and the standard-bearers of world rugby. It would be an awfully duller rugby map without them, as the buzz of anticipation and the events of next Saturday evening will no doubt underline.