COME IN, Bob, your time has arrived. It may only be an exhibition game, but after eight years in the wilderness Bob Casey has been invited to come in from the cold following the London Irish captain's inclusion in the Ireland squad to play the Barbarians on May 27th and the subsequent Churchill Cup with the Ireland A squad.
Casey won the last of his five caps in 2000 as a replacement in the draw with Canada in Toronto, having only started one of those five games, namely the 50-19 defeat to England in Twickenham earlier that year. Like others, he appeared to have been punished, in part, for being based abroad.
Despite becoming a cult figure as well as captain at London Irish, where he has formed statistically the best lineout partnership in the English Premiership alongside Nick Kennedy and has recently signed a long-term extension, Casey had been continually overlooked even for A squads.
Only last week he publicly admitted the change of Ireland head coach had given him, and others, hope of returning to the Test arena. He'll have a job muscling in on the O'Callaghan-O'Connell axis, but it is at least belated recognition.
In the absence of a 13-strong Munster contingent who will be involved in the European Cup final three days beforehand, Casey is one of seven players in the 37-man squad announced yesterday (effectively making it a 24-man selection to play the Barbarians) who will then be detoured to the Churchill Cup in Canada and the USA.
These include prop Tom Court, whose dormant career at Ulster has been revived by Matt Williams, and Mike Ross, another who, despite starting regularly for Harlequins, was largely overlooked by Ireland.
Another uncapped duo, Ryan Caldwell and Johnny Sexton, will also be in Kingsholm prior to linking up with the As, as will Neil Best and Stephen Ferris, though it's disappointing Sexton isn't travelling down under as well.
The only uncapped player in the quite numerous 30-man squad to tour New Zealand and Australia is Ian Dowling, reward for his rejuvenation this season and an impressive run of form for Munster.
Otherwise, the squad has a fairly familiar look, drawing on 23 of the 26 players who featured in the Six Nations, with the exception of the retired Simon Easterby and the injured Gordon D'Arcy and Andrew Trimble.
Among those recalled are the somewhat fortunate Bryan Young, Isaac Boss and Gavin Duffy, along with Jerry Flannery, who was ruled out of the Six Nations, Alan Quinlan, bizarrely overlooked completely, and Shane Jennings.
Although he played last night for Ulster, Trimble was ruled out of consideration as it was felt his leg injury and various other complaints would be better served by a close-season of rehabilitation.
With D'Arcy obliged to have another operation last Friday to move some of his elbow bone into his injured wrist, the squad was left seriously undermanned in midfield and grateful for the return to fitness and form of Brian O'Driscoll, who has been reinstated as captain.
The only other viable centre in the squad is Shane Horgan, which may partly explain Paddy Wallace's selection ahead of Sexton. Wallace has played only four games for Ulster at outhalf this season and is clearly being earmarked as a centre by Williams at Ulster, whereas Sexton has had more time and more form as a number 10 with Leinster.
The somewhat conservative nature of the selection reflects the immediate need for Ireland to maintain a top-eight world ranking (they are currently ranked eighth) between now and the World Cup draw in December so as to retain a second-tier seeding.
Commenting on the tour, the caretaker head coach, Michael Bradley, was quoted in yesterday's IRFU release: "New Zealand is undoubtedly one of the most challenging places to tour and to win Test matches and that is quickly followed up with a game against an Australian side that will have the fresh input of a new coach and are always among the top sides in the world."
Bradley, along with Niall O'Donovan and manager Joey Miles, had only been installed on Thursday but an IRFU spokesperson denied rumours the Appointments Committee of Neil Jackson, Noel Murphy and Pa Whelan, in tandem with IRFU director of rugby Eddie Wigglesworth, had chosen the squad, maintaining the caretaker trio had been the sole selectors.
IRELAND SQUAD
FORWARDS
N Best (Ulster)*, R Best (Ulster), T Buckley (Munster), T Court (Ulster)*, B Casey (London Irish)*, R Caldwell (Ulster)*, S Ferris (Ulster)*, J Flannery (Munster), J Hayes (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster), M Horan (Munster), B Jackman (Leinster), S Jennings (Leinster), D Leamy (Munster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), P O'Connell (Munster), M O'Driscoll (Munster), M O'Kelly (Leinster), A Quinlan (Munster), M Ross (Harlequins)*, D Wallace (Munster), B Young (Ulster).
BACKS
T Bowe (Ulster), I Boss (Ulster), I Dowling (Munster), G Dempsey (Leinster), G Duffy (Connacht), L Fitzgerald (Leinster), S Horgan (Leinster), R Kearney (Leinster), G Murphy (Leicester), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, captain), R O'Gara (Munster), E Reddan (Wasps), J Sexton (Leinster)*, P Stringer (Munster), P Wallace (Ulster).
* Denotes players for Barbarians match squad who will not be travelling to New Zealand and Australia.
IRELAND A SQUAD: Forwards: N Best (Ulster), R Caldwell (Ulster), R Casey (London Irish), T Court (Ulster), S Cronin (Munster), S Ferris (Ulster), D Fogarty (Connacht), C Healy (Leinster), T Hogan (Leinster), D Hurley (Munster), J O'Connor (Connacht), D Pollock (Ulster), M Ross (Harlequins), D Ryan (Munster), R Wilson (Ulster). Backs: G Brown (Leinster), D Cave (Ulster), K Earls (Munster), I Humphreys (Leicester), D Hurley (Munster), K Lewis (Munster), K Matthews (Connacht), M McCrea (Ulster), F Murphy (Leicester), J Murphy (Leicester), F McFadden (Leinster), T O'Leary (Munster), J Sexton (Leinster).
