O'Driscoll set for replacements as O'Kelly faces drop

RUGBY/SIX NATIONS:MICK O'DRISCOLL is set to replace Malcolm O'Kelly among the replacements in the only change from the 22 on duty against Italy when the Irish team and replacements for Saturday's RBS Six Nations game against England is announced at lunch time today.

The omission of the 34-year-old O’Kelly from the 36-man squad, which was assembled on Sunday, looks, on the face of it, quite pointed, given he is the only player from the selected 22 for both of the opening wins over France and Italy not named in the enlarged squad.

While he fumbled a restart in Rome, O’Kelly’s four minutes at the Stadio Flaminio hardly merited such a dramatic demotion.

The Irish management have not explained the reasoning behind the lock’s omission, but apparently O’Kelly has not been banished to the wilderness, nor formally reprimanded. And his motivated, aerially-dominant, all-round performance for Leinster in their win away to the Scarlets on Saturday showed he still has plenty to offer.

That said, his treatment looks harsh, and in any event his hopes of reaching 100 caps have taken a serious, and perhaps irreparable jolt.

By dint of his two appearances as a replacement in the championship to date, O’Kelly has remained Ireland’s most capped player with 92 Tests, after John Hayes had twice drawn level with him at kick-off. Now Hayes looks certain to remain level with him when he wins his 92nd cap against England in what will also be, remarkably, a 47th championship start in succession for the Bruff prop.

O’Driscoll may well have been included in the 22 before now but for the shoulder injury which has limited his game time of late. But, having come through 80 minutes for Munster in their bonus point win over Edinburgh at Musgrave Park on Saturday evening, he looks best placed for a promotion to the bench.

By contrast, of the other two locks called up to the enlarged squad, Bob Casey was rested from yesterday’s training session due to the rigours of London Irish’s 20-20 comeback draw away to Bath on Saturday, while, after Ryan Caldwell’s recent injuries and sickness, the Ulster lock was confined to just 12 minutes action late on in their defeat away to the Dragons.

Shane Jennings was also rested from yesterday’s session after his highly industrious, try-scoring, 80-minute work-out for Leinster on Saturday.

All 15 of the players who started against France and Italy were rested from games last weekend, along with replacement hooker Rory Best, in part because Bernard Jackman is only returning from injury.

Plenty of the replacements in the Six Nations’ games had effective outings, notably Denis Leamy, but the likelihood of any changes to the starting XV would seem remote. The Irish management are clearly keen to cultivate a squad ethos, and probably would be of a mind to make a change here and there if only to underline that principle, yet there has been no compelling evidence to do so.

Declan Kidney and co would have been grateful that Gordon D’Arcy’s return to optimum fitness and form would have been accentuated by his 80-minute work-out for Leinster. And they would not have paid too much heed to the drop in intensity with the change from the Six Nations to the Magners League. There were one or two blips, but defensively D’Arcy was highly industrious if perhaps still not tackling with the ferocity of old, which is hardly surprising given the nature of his injury.

The call at inside centre is probably becoming tighter by the week, but the temptation to give Paddy Wallace (who has trained for the last week without any side-effects from the consecutive injuries around his eyes) another go and maintain the dynamic balance offered by D’Arcy’s impact off the bench is real.

The same is true of a highly experienced bench, in which case O’Driscoll for the unfortunate O’Kelly among the replacements may be the only change.

England attack coach Brian Smith yesterday claimed referee Jonathan Kaplan was influenced by pressure from the Wales management last Saturday week.

Kaplan sent Mike Tindall and Andy Goode to the sin-bin and awarded 14 penalties against England, which helped Wales secure a 23-15 victory at the Millennium Stadium.

“His (Kaplan’s) whole demeanour through that match, the way he addressed our team in the changing room beforehand – he had clearly had heaps of pressure put on by Wales,” said Smith.