O'Sullivan Admits to No10 Dilemma

The outside-half debate has traditionally been a preserve of the Welsh, but the Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan will choose his team for Saturday's match against Australia here still unsure whether David Humphreys or Ronan O'Gara should wear the No10 jersey.

Humphreys has been the incumbent for most of the past two years; O'Gara, hampered by a succession of injuries, has started in eight of 23 Tests in that time but many feel he is more likely to fire Brian O'Driscoll in the centre than Humphreys, who is seen as more of a kicking outside-half.

O'Sullivan does not share that view and attributes O'Driscoll's failure to score a try in the past eight months to close attention from defenders.

"Both David and Ronan are capable of tailoring their game to suit Brian and as far as his attacking game is concerned it does not matter which one of them is at outside-half," said the coach. "The two are similar pivots in some ways and different in others but they can both release their outside backs and neither is a factor in Brian's lack of tries recently.

"I can honestly say that at this moment I do not know which of them will be wearing the 10 jersey against Australia. Every time I am asked a question about this I think, 'Here we go again,' and there is so little between them it almost comes down to the toss of a coin.

"It is a decision which takes a lot of time to work out. We always leave it until the last moment when we have all the data in front of us. What I would say is that it is a problem that I would always like to have as a coach because they are both fine players."

Humphreys, 32, started in the crucial group game against Argentina on Sunday in Adelaide but he was replaced by the 26-year-old O'Gara after 55 minutes with Ireland trailing by two points, and O'Gara landed two penalties to give his side victory and himself the probable edge in selection for the Wallabies.

"I brought Ronan on because I felt we were trying to play the game too much in our own half," said O'Sullivan. "We needed to take play through a couple of phases and pin them back. David had been caught in possession a few times and it was a tight match in which one mistake could prove fatal."

As he prepares for Saturday, O'Sullivan is wrestling with a dilemma: does he choose his strongest side against the Wal labies and try to win the group and a potential quarter-final against Scotland rather than France, or does he hold back some players for the last eight?

"We have a minimum of two matches left in the World Cup and the one we have to win to remain in the competition is the quarter-final," he said. "I will not risk anyone on Saturday who is not 100%. That does not mean we will not be going flat out to beat Australia. We defeated them last November and there are thousands of Irish supporters over here who expect us to give everything. And we will."

The flanker David Wallace arrived yesterday to replace Alan Quinlan, who dislocated his shoulder last Sunday in the act of scoring the try that defeated Argentina. It is the third year in a row the Munster forward has arrived on a tour as a replacement: in 2001 he was called out by the Lions in Australia and last year he was summoned by Ireland to New Zealand.