There were few surprises this afternoon when Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan named his 37-man training squad for next week’s six day work-out in Limerick.
O’Sullivan and his coaching staff will put the squad through it’s paces next week ahead of September’s World Cup 2003 qualifying campaign and even with injuries to key players, the squad has a familiar ring to it.
Ireland face Russia away on September 21st before meeting Georgia at Lansdowne Road seven days later and can afford no slip-ups in order to book their place in next summer’s showpiece in Australia.
One player delighted with his return to the international scene after a seven month lay-off is London Irish openside Kieron Dawson.
The former Ulster player missed the majority of last season with a troublesome knee injury - indeed, the unlucky Bangor-born flanker has not started a Six Nations campaign for three seasons through injury - but has fought his way back to full fitness and is once again in contention for a starting role in the Ireland back-row.
Not that he’s looking any further than next week for the time being.
"I'm just pleased to see my name in the squad again at the moment," he told ireland.comthis afternoon.
"After seven months it’s easy for people to forget about you but I’ve been working hard, travelled to Poland with the rest of the boys and I’m delighted to be involved next week."
Dawson anticipates a gruelling week’s work in Limerick, with the players shaking off the cobwebs after a well-earned but brief summer break.
"It’s gonna be fairly intense," he said. "We don’t have a match immediately afterwards so there’s a bit of leeway there for the coaches to do a lot of hard, physical work and I see us working hard right through until Friday."
There was also a word of consolation from Dawson for fellow back-row David Wallace, who underwent shoulder surgery last month and is not expected to be fit for six months.
"I’m gutted for him. No-one knows better than myself how frustrating it is to lose your place through injury and if you ask any player, they’ll tell you it’s one of the hardest things to take."
Ireland Squad:
Forwards: Simon Best (Ulster), Shane Byrne (Leinster), Bob Casey (London Irish), Reggie Corrigan (Leinster), Victor Costello, (Leinster), Leo Cullen (Leinster), Kieron Dawson (London Irish), Simon Easterby (Llanelli), Anthony Foley (Munster), Keith Gleeson (Leinster), John Hayes (Munster), Marcus Horan (Munster), Gary Longwell (Ulster), Eric Miller (Leinster), Mick O'Driscoll (Munster), Malcolm O'Kelly (Leinster), Alan Quinlan (Munster), Frank Sheahan (Munster), Paul Wallace (Leinster), Keith Wood (Harlequins).
Backs: Justin Bishop (London Irish), Paul Burke (Harlequins), Gordon Darcy (Leinster), Girvan Dempsey (Leinster), Neil Doak (Ulster), Guy Easterby (Llanelli), Rob Henderson (Munster), Denis Hickie (Leinster), Shane Horgan (Leinster), Tyrone Howe (Ulster), David Humphreys (Ulster), John Kelly (Munster), Kevin Maggs (Bath), Ronan O'Gara (Munster), Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster), Peter Stringer (Munster), Paddy Wallace (Ulster).
