Bowe Dropped; Henshaw Injured; Kearney Upgraded

Joe Schmidt, in time-honoured tradition, left his announcement of the team to confront Canada, until almost the last possible moment. I'm not sure if he is waiting to hear about injured players or he feels that there is some advantage to be incurred from delaying the team announcement. Having said that, it is peculiar how international rugby teams must be revealed a few days ahead of a fixture, while soccer teams are not published until scarcely more than an hour before kick-off, while cricket teams don't have to be named until the toss of the coin, about fifteen minutes before the start of hostilities. Still, c'est la vie. 

Meanwhile back on planet Ireland, the supremo has justifiably chosen the in-form Dave Kearney ahead of the rusty Tommy Bowe. He has also not risked starting with Cian Healy, but instead will probably summon the Lions prop from the bench, after Jack McGrath has given his all for fifty or fifty-five minutes.

Elsewhere, Iain Henderson gets the nod ahead of Devin Toner. Perhaps Peter O'Mahony could count himself a trifle fortunate that the axe did not fall on him, with the big Ulsterman playing on the blindside instead. However, although the lineout skills of the giraffe Toner will be missing from the Canada contest, it was clearly felt that O'Mahony's grafting and work at close quarters was too valuable to jettison - for now.

Behind the scrum, an injury to Robbie Henshaw has necessitated a change in the centre. Jared Payne will be partnered by Luke Fitzgerald. It is good to see the Leinster back return to the fray, but I really wonder if he is an improvement upon the absent Andrew Trimble. In fact, I would have chosen Madigan ahead of Fitzgerald, as he provides an extra kicking option, plus he is a solid defender. Fitzgerald can be an elusive runner, and it will be hoped that he can spark our midfield into life, or at least create space for our wingers. Defeating Canada is the absolute bare minimum, but quite frankly the result will be little short of a catastrophe if we cannot do so, with a bonus point for at least four tries. Consequently, it is important to have the kind of three quarters who can execute chances. Maybe Fitzgerald can prove to be an asset at finishing off try-scoring moves.

Finally, in what must have been a desperately close call, Keith Earls has been preferred to his Munster team mate, Simon Zebo. There is little to choose between either of them. Both demonstrated some fine form in August. Earls will have to deliver, as the benched Zebo will be recalled, if his colleague doesn't justify his starting place.

Canada should be comfortably defeated, as there is a gulf in quality between the two teams, as confirmed by the respective IRB world rankings. However, Ireland have been known to shoot themselves in the foot in the World Cup. Perhaps in their urgency to attain a bonus point from four tries, the Oirish might be distracted into playing cavalier rugby. I'm sure that the coach will urge patience, as openings will indeed eventually open. Canada will in theory weaken as the game progresses. Their second half substitutions will after all be second string players, and their reinforcements will be considerably less competent than ours, so we can even exploit their 'fresh pairs of legs'. Right, here are the squads for the opening skirmish in our happy hunting ground of Cardiff:

Ireland: R Kearney; D Kearney, J Payne, L Fitzgerald, K Earls; J Sexton, C Murray; J McGrath, R Best, M Ross; I Henderson, P O'Connell (capt), P O'Mahony, S O'Brien, J Heaslip.

Replacements: S Cronin, C Healy, N White, D Ryan, C Henry, E Reddan, I Madigan, S Zebo.

Canada: M Evans; J Hassler, C Hearn, N Blevins, DTH Van Der Merwe; N Hirayama, G McRorie; A Carpenter, J Moonlight, K Gilmour; J Cudmore (capt), B Beukeboom, D Wooldridge, R Barkwill, H Buydens.

Replacements: B Piffero, D Sears-Duru, A Tiedemann, J Sinclair, R Thorpe, P Mack, L Underwood, C Trainor.