Tour places up for grabs

The lure of the Southern Hemisphere and the handful of places still up for dispute should galvanise the Irish players as much as the sight of Scottish jerseys in tonight's A international at Myreside (7.0).

Ireland embark on a summer tour of Australia and several of the shadow side will be hoping to further their cause in front of the Irish senior team management.

While victory is always cherished a prominent performance is of more tangible benefit to the Irish combatants. Lansdowne centre Shane Horgan, newly introduced Cork Constitution scrum-half Brian O'Meara, Shannon prop John Hayes, a rejuvenated Gabriel Fulcher and the entire backrow of David Corkery, Anthony Foley and Eddie Halvey will all merit consideration.

Horgan's form of late has been excellent, his vision and distribution considerably improved from earlier in the season. Less raw and displaying more potential he would surely blossom in a month-long training camp with limited match experience. O'Meara's return to representative level appears to indicate that Irish coach Warren Gatland has yet to decide on his World Cup scrumhalf.

If Hayes can improve his scrummaging to competent standards at the highest level then he possesses all the other attributes to make an impact in international rugby. An excellent ball carrier with a good work ethic, he needs to accelerate that development in the basics. Fulcher has threatened recently to rediscover his form.

Given the five backrow forwards in the senior squad there does not appear to be too many vacancies in this area but one from Corkery, Foley and Halvey could make the tour, with current form favouring the Cork Constitution player.

Clubmate Cian Mahony receives a long overdue call-up to the A side in the centre, renewing last season's Under-21 midfield partnership with Horgan. Another from that Triple Crown winning team, Buccaneers tighthead prop Martin Cahill has forced his way onto the bench. A series of superb performances at club level demanded that he be given an opportunity.

Ireland A coach Mike Ruddock will impress upon his charges that for individuals to shine, the collective performance must be right and that means subjugating urges for the greater good of the team. These matches have traditionally been high scoring, entertaining affairs and there is nothing to suggest that this will not be another one.

Ireland showed in the 28-21 defeat by England at Donnybrook great character in the second half, a trait not always prevalent at this level. For their part Scotland have lost to both Wales and England before enjoying a rather facile victory over Italy in their last match.

Northampton wing Craig Moir and centre Jamie Mayer have been mentioned in despatches by Scotland's senior coach Jim Telfer and they will want to increase the pressure on their peers. Tighthead Matthew Proudfoot was another bandied for inclusion in the Five Nations game at Murrayfield. Paul Burnell held his place but Proudfoot is another for whom there is plenty to play.

SCOTLAND: S Lang (Edinburgh Reivers); C Moir (Northampton), J Mayer (Edinburgh R), D Officer (Harlequins), C Joiner (Leicester); A Donaldson (Currie), G Burns (Edinburgh R); G Graham (Newcastle), R Russell (Edinburgh R), M Proudfoot (Edinburgh R), I Fullerton (Edinburgh R), S Campbell (Glasgow Caledonians); C Mather (Edinburgh R), S Reid (Leeds, capt), S Holmes (London Scottish).

IRELAND: S Mason (Ballymena); P Duignan (Galwegians), S Horgan (Lansdowne), C Mahony (Cork Constitution), D O'Mahony (Bedford); K Keane (Garryowen), B O'Meara (Cork Constitution); J Screene (Buccaneers), A Clarke (Dungannon, capt), J Hayes (Shannon); G Fulcher (Lansdowne), M Blair (Ballymena); D Corkery (Cork Constitution), A Foley (Shannon), E Halvey (Shannon).