The 34-man squad for the forthcoming tour of South Africa - presuming internal political divisions in the host country do not bring about its cancellation, -is an interesting enough yet none too radical selection. Despite the presence of seven uncapped players, a new captain in Paddy Johns and the presence of the three Wallace brothers, there is not the anticipated infusion of new blood, especially among the backs.
Aside from the youngest of the three Wallaces, 21-year-old Garryowen back-row player David, the South African number eight Dion O'Cuinneagain, Trevor Brennan, Bernard Jackman, John Hayes and Justin Fitzpatrick amid the 19 forwards, the only newcomer among the 15 backs chosen is the Terenure scrum-half Derek Hegarty.
This, admittedly, is a surprise, presumably to Garryowen generally and both their Irish A scrumhalf Stephen McIvor and their Irish under-21 player Tom Tierney in particular. But the rationale behind Hegarty's selection is that the third scrum-half was unlikely to make too many appearances on the seven-match tour and so therefore it made more sense to make an investment in the future than in the likes of McIvor and Niall Hogan. Still, it was anticipated that the strength, speed and snappy passing of Tierney would thus get the nod.
Of Hegarty's selection, Warren Gatland said: "One of the things we wanted to do was take one or two development players. He's involved with the Leinster scene for the upcoming season, he's 22, we haven't honestly seen a lot of him play but we've had very good reports about his performances for Terenure so I think he fits that criteria very well."
Hegarty apart, however, disappointingly the Irish management were unable to find any room for the likes of Lansdowne centre Shane Horgan, St Mary's centre Gareth Gannon or Garryowen out-half Barry Everitt. In part, all three and Everitt especially may have missed out because of his Garryowen team-mate Killian Keane's adaptability as both a centre and out-half.
Gatland said that it had been his desire to bring along some more young blood in the backs and midfield especially, except that the "return from injury" of all our centres, particularly Jonathan Bell (who will presumably be wrapped in cotton wool between now and the May 24th departure date) and Rob Henderson, reduced his options. He and manager Donal Lenihan also clearly felt a sense of loyalty to Mark McCall and Kevin Maggs, the latter having appeared in every international this season.
Maggs and Bell also have experience of playing on the wing, affording the management the opportunity to bring only three wingers. That James Topping was the third choice behind the incumbent duo of Denis Hickie and Richie Wallace constituted one of the biggest eyebrow-raisers.
Gatland said he likes the look of Topping, who scarcely warrants his selection above the likes of John McWeeney, Darragh O'Mahony or for that matter the London Irish pair of Niall Woods and Justin Bishop, on the evidence of the Ballymena man's patchy form this season. Gatland admitted that the harshly treated McWeeney, dropped from the senior side after the All Blacks defeat and not appearing again above A level, was one of the unluckiest to miss out.
The Irish coach also placed the unfortunate Eddie Halvey in that category. Despite his good form for Shannon, his probable suitability to the South African hard grounds, and his abilities as a back-five utility forward, Halvey's omission may in part have something to do with clubmate Anthony Foley's late charge for a tour place.
"He has played his way into the touring party with his two outstanding performances in the last two games of the All-Ireland League," admitted Gatland. Regarding the selection of Paddy Johns as captain, Gatland said there were no other candidates. "It was a very simple decision to make. He leads from the front, he has honesty, respect from the players, is fully committed to the Irish shirt and these are the sort of qualities I'm personally looking for."
Manager Donal Lenihan added that Johns is "an inclusive type of captain in terms of involving other people and so should make an ideal leader in terms of being a tour captain."
The 40-times capped, 30-yearold Johns was "absolutely shocked" when first contacted by the Irish management on Monday night. His captaincy experience is limited to Royal School Dungannon and the Ulster under20s. "It's an experience I'm looking forward to. It will be a big job but I will put everything into the role in the only way I know and I'm really looking forward to it."
His team-mate at Saracens, Paul Wallace, said: "Everybody has the utmost respect for Paddy. He's a real diehard player and he's one of the least selfish players I've ever played with. He's never really got the recognition he deserves and maybe that's because he's such a team player, and is always willing to do the hard work rather than the glamour work."
This does not appear to be as tough and unrelentingly rigorous as last summer's development tour, when the squad only had one rest day apart from travel days. Gatland has discussed ways of curtailing the tour load with several jaded English-based players primarily, and will provide them with rest days "and days when they just jump in the pool to keep them nice and fresh." Paul Wallace, he added, was "jumping out of his socks to go on tour."
The only players who were deemed officially unavailable for the tour were the three other Lions of last summer, Keith Wood, Jeremy Davidson and Eric Miller, in all three cases after "discussions took place". With loyalty high on his agenda, Gatland clearly intimated that reputations will count for little at the start of next season when responding to whether there would be a black mark against the absentees. "Draw your own conclusions."
