Irish pride looking for a lift

In a departure from the recent practice of selecting touring sides to give established players a rest and to include experimental choices, Ireland is bringing pretty much their strongest touring team to New Zealand and Australia.

The only players absent are out because of injury - lock Malcolm O'Kelly, flankers Simon Easterby and Jonny O'Connor, halfback Eoin Reddan and prop Simon Best.

We all know the likes of Brian O'Driscoll, Ronan O'Gara, Geordan Murphy, Shane Horgan and others from the 2005 Lions tour.

But who are the lesser-known players on the way up and/or who will need to perform if the Irish are to threaten the All Blacks?

Revealingly, most of those mentioned players are backs and it is in the forwards that Ireland will need to lift their game as the Ireland scrum might struggle against the All Blacks. So we have restricted ourselves to three forwards and three backs who will need to front up if Ireland are to better last season's 45-7 loss to the All Blacks at Lansdowne Road.

Paul O'Connell
Lock, 33 caps, 27-years-old.
1.96cm, 110kg.

Ireland's player of the season this year after convincing Six Nations and Heineken Cup campaigns, O'Connell was almost universally voted the biggest disappointment of the 2005 Lions campaign. Renowned as a hard man, lineout specialist and mobile forward, O'Connell showed few, if any, of those qualities as he was consistently and convincingly outpointed by his All Black opposites in all three tests. Did not play against the All Blacks in Lansdowne Road during the Grand Slam tour and will be looking to balance the ledger this time.

Denis Leamy
Flanker/No 8, 11 caps, 24-years-old.
1.88cm, 108kg.

Has become Ireland's ball-carrying forward, a bruising runner hard to stop. Played in the Lansdowne Road test last year but wasn't seen at full effectiveness. If Ireland can get some ball - if - he will be a key part of their go-forward plans and is dangerous near the line.

David Wallace
Flanker, 27 caps, 29-years-old.
1.88cm, 103kg.

With O'Connor invalided out of the side, Wallace will likely be the No 7 in the test side. Fast - the fastest Irish forward and quicker than many of the backs - and with good ball skills, Wallace is capable of punching big holes in defences. He did just that against a lacklustre England side when Ireland captured their Triple Crown in the Six Nations.

Gordon D'Arcy
Centre, 20 caps, 26-years-old.
1.78cm, 93kg.

Heralded as one of the Lions backs to look out for in 2005, D'Arcy was hardly sighted in a disappointing tour where he is remembered mostly for a spear tackle on NZ Maori's Rua Tipoki - a tackle which gained nowhere as much recognition as a certain other spear tackle that tour. However, D'Arcy came back strongly this year - he has once again been beating defenders - and will be needed to make some space for O'Driscoll if the Irish backs are to worry their opposites.

Tommy Bowe
Winger, eight caps, 22-years-old.
1.91cm, 89kg.

Quick and a good finisher, Bowe has come on strongly for Ireland in recent times. A former sprinter quick enough to be rated highly in Northern Ireland's Institute of Sport, Bowe has yet to prove himself at test level - and has possibly suffered a bit from a conservative Irish approach of late. However, sound judges rate him and it will be interesting to see what he can do if given a bit of ball.

Andrew Trimble
Centre, six caps, 21-years-old.
1.88cm, 91kg.

Voted newcomer of the year in Irish rugby, this creative young centre arrives in New Zealand with the reputation of, alongside England centre Mathew Tait, one of the 'great white hopes' of British rugby. We should put out of our minds that the last centre so adorned with that title was Gavin Henson - now left at home by the Welsh to lose weight, gain fitness and generally pull his head in. Trimble is regarded as a fine attacker, who runs smart lines and has good pace and ball skills. May only get a test spot as a winger as O'Driscoll and D'Arcy will likely be the test midfield.