Way open for five new caps

The waiting game ends at 9.30 tomorrow morning when Pat Whelan reveals the Irish team to play the All Blacks a fortnight hence. The manager has brought forward the announcement by 11 hours due to the absence of Paddy Johns and Richard Wallace from the Saracens game tomorrow, which effectively rules Wallace out of consideration if not Johns. All told, it looks like being a relatively radical new team containing something burrowed from before but plenty of new blood, with as much as one-third of the team new caps - St Mary's left-winger John McWeeney, his scrum-half clubmate Conor McGuinness, the London Irish lock Malcolm O'Kelly, the Sale number six David Erskine and the London Irish open-side Kieron Dawson.

Brian Ashton will run the rule over London Irish against Newcastle today at Sunbury but the evidence of the weekly squad sessions has led to players and onlookers alike pretty much agreeing on his starting XV.

London Irish could have as many as four of the team, with full-back Conor O'Shea, centre Mark McCall and newcomers O'Kelly and Dawson all nailing down their positions in front of the watching Ashton this afternoon. Gabriel Fulcher and David Humphreys could do their causes no harm either, and look likely to be at least in the squad. The St Mary's pair of Dennis Hickie and McWeeney seem the likeliest pairings on the wing. However, with Simon Geoghegan, Richie Wallace, Jonathan Bell and James Topping injured, options are far from plentiful, and the only other winger at Wednesday's squad session was the uncapped Jan Cunningham.

Similarly, Mark McCall has few rivals for the midfield slot alongside Rob Henderson. The Connacht pairing of Eric Elwood and McGuinness still look the favoured half-backs, especially with defensive demands foremost against the All Blacks and given Elwood's place-kicking credentials over the enigmatic Humphreys.

The Poppy-Woody-Wally frontrow combination looks a shoe-in, while Johns may be just ahead of Fulcher as partner to O'Kelly in the second-row - though Fulcher's leadership credentials may come into consideration.

Conventional wisdom and the squad sessions still points to a backrow of David Erskine, Eric Miller and Dawson but this is the most competitive area of selection. Eddie Halvey and Alan Quinlan are pushing strong on either side but Erskine's development tour gave him a head start.

However, there is no obvious big hitter in the absence of the injured David Corkery, some-one with the mean attitude and ability to disrupt with big tackles. Here, it was interesting to note Trevor Brennan's apparently more prominent role in training last Wednesday.

With tactical substitutions now a standard if under-used ploy, it is very much a squad selection as well as a team selection. Halvey's versatility makes him at least a front-runner for the bench, though Erskine's flexibility as lock, number six or number eight also allows scope on the bench and a hunch says that Brennan may be closer to the team than is generally felt.

The likely team is: O'Shea; Hickie, McCall, Henderson, McWeeney; Elwood, McGuinness; Popplewell, Wood (captain), Wallace, Johns, O'Kelly, Erskine, Miller, Dawson.