British and Irish Lions duo David Wallace and Tyrone Howe have been dropped from the Irish squad to tour New Zealand in the summer.
Wallace has been replaced in Eddie O’Sullivan’s 26-man touring party by Munster team-mate Alan Quinlan, while Howe loses out to London Irish’s Justin Bishop.
The omission of Wallace is guaranteed to raise a few eyebrows, not least because of his performance for Munster in the Heineken Cup semi-final against Castres.
Wallace was one of Munster’s star performers on that memorable day, marshalling maverick talent Gregor Townsend superbly, but O’Sullivan clearly feels his recent perfomances in the green of Ireland have not been up to par.
Quinlan has been in excellent form of late, equally effective in the white heat of Beziers before helping Shannon to AIL glory, and gets the nod over his provincial colleague.
There is still a place among the forwards to be confirmed, although it is expected to be filled by Anthony Foley, should the number 8 overcome the shoulder injury sustained in the Heineken Cup semi-final against Castres.
The Irish team management appear to have no such concerns over Paul O’Connell. The giant Munster lock remains doubtful for the Heineken Cup final with an ankle problem but has been named in the squad nonetheless.
Elsewhere in the pack, hooker Shane Byrne retains his role as understudy to Keith Wood, leaving Frankie Sheahan out in the cold while Keith Gleeson is the only natural openside flanker in the squad.
In the backline, Shane Horgan finds himself in the same situation as Foley. The Leinster centre/winger is still struggling to fight his way back to fitness after surgery on his injured ankle and the selectors have kept their options open for the time being.
Should he not make it, the door may open for Ulster’s Howe who finds himself slipping down the pecking order behind the likes of Bishop, John Kelly and Anthony Horgan, the only uncapped player in the touring party.
The squad leave Ireland for the three-match tour on June 1st. They meet a representative XV in Timura on June 8th before playing the first of two tests against John Mitchell’s All Blacks in Dunedin on June 15th. The final test is in Auckland stadium on June 22nd.
Backs: G Murphy, G Dempsey, A Horgan, J Bishop, J Kelly B O'Driscoll, R Henderson, , R O'Gara, D Humphreys, P Stringer, G Easterby, AN Other.
Forwards: R Corrigan, M Horan, J Hayes, P Wallace, K Wood, S Byrne, P O'Connell, M O'Kelly, G Longwell, S Easterby, E Miller, K Gleeson, A Quinlan, AN Other.
Not considered because of injury: Jonathan Bell, Simon Best, Emmet Byrne, Jeremy Davidson, Kieron Dawson, Denis Hickie, Kevin Maggs.
