Tony Ward weighs up Ireland's World Cup options following their impressive win over England last weekend in the Irish Independent.
"We are a long way from being the finished article needed to compete with the Southern Hemisphere three, but as a serious work in progress Ireland have shown enough to offer real hope.
Last Saturday's superb performance against England has raised the bar and, with it, public expectation. The talk now is of a World Cup semi-final slot being the minimum requirement.
You would expect the 22 named for duty against England to travel to New Zealand. To that, add Jerry Flannery (if fit) and Tomas O'Leary alongside Wallace as specialist cover at hooker, scrum-half and out-half respectively.
Should Flannery fail to make it, then it will be Damien Varley next up, with Isaac Boss covering the base of the scrum as well. That leaves just six positions to be filled. Here is where Declan Kidney must earn his corn. Does he go for a 16-14 forward-back split, or is 17-13 the more sensible option, given the guaranteed attritional rate up front?"
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