O’Gara Injury Puts Humphreys In The Hot Seat

The injury that Ronan O’Gara picked up in the Celtic League Final has forced him out of Ireland’s Six Nations opener against Scotland leaving Daivid Humphreys with the number 10 jersey

The injury that Ronan O’Gara picked up in the Celtic League Final has forced him out of Ireland’s Royal Bank of Scotland Six Nations opener against Scotland leaving Daivid Humphreys with the number 10 jersey. The decision to omit O’Gara, who hadn’t trained since joining the squad, was only made yesterday according to coach Eddie O’Sullivan, “With the way he was playing recently, Ronan probably had the edge over David so we left it as late as possible before making the decision to go with David. Even if we had given him a few more days, I don’t think he would have made it, so I believe we’ve made the right decision.
David is a seasoned pro and I know he will will see this as an opportunity but I don’t have any reservations at all about him taking over at 10.”

That change aside, the only other one from the side that defeated Argentina sees Denis Hickie return to the starting line-up after being ruled out of the Argentine game by an injury picked up in the match against Australia. John Kelly replaced Hickie and he is the one who misses out this time with his place in the squad going to Geordan Murphy.

The Ireland squad fly out today from Dublin
Airport for a destination where they haven’t won since 1985.

The Irish team to play Scotland in the Royal Bank of Scotland Six Nations Championship at Murrayfield on Sunday, February 16th (k.o. 3:00pm) is,

Girvan Dempsey (Leinster/Terenure College), Shane Horgan (Leinster/Lansdowne), Brian O’Driscoll (Leinster/Blackrock College) Captain, Kevin Maggs (Bath), Denis Hickie (Leinster/ St. Mary’s College); David Humphreys (Ulster/Dungannon), Peter Stringer (Munster/Shannon);
Reggie Corrigan (Leinster/Greystones), Shane Byrne (Leinster/Blackrock College), John Hayes (Munster/Shannon); Gary Longwell (Ulster/Ballymena), Malcolm O’Kelly (Leinster/St. Mary’s College); Victor Costello (Leinster/St. Mary’s College), Keith Gleeson (Leinster/St. Mary’s College), Anthony Foley (Munster/Shannon).

Replacements: 16 – Frank Sheahan (Munster/Cork Constitution), 17 – Marcus Horan (Munster/Shannon), 18 – Leo Cullen (Leinster/Blackrock College), 19 – Alan Quinlan (Munster/Shannon), 20 – Guy Easterby (Llanelli), 21 – Paul Burke (Harlequins), 22 – Geordan Murphy (Leicester).

Not considered because of injury: Keith Wood (Harlequins), David Wallace (Munster/Garryowen), Paul Wallace (Leinster/Blackrock College), Paul O’Connell (Munster/Young Munster), Emmet Byrne (Leinster/St. Mary’s College), Justin Bishop (London Irish), Jonathon Bell (Ulster/Dungannon), Tyrone Howe (Ulster/Dungannon), Ronan O’Gara (Munster/Cork Constitution).