Whoever loses the Pool D clash faces a trip home, but that won’t force the Ireland management’s hand into risking O’Connell. If Ireland win there’s likely to be a quarter final against Wales and possibly more…

O’Connell has resumed running and hopes to make a return to training tomorrow.

Conor Murray and Ronan O’Gara ran through the session with most of the front-liners suggesting that they will start ahead of Sexton and Reddan. Trimble is also pushing for a starting place but you would expect the team to remain largely unchanged from the starting lineup against Australia.

“I feel fresh, fast and powerful. I want to show that,” he said.

“I’m very confident in my own ability and what I can do on the pitch. I have to prove that and the only way to do that is to get my hands on the ball as much as possible.

“I’ve got to make life difficult for (coach) Declan Kidney and see what happens. Declan knows I’m not happy being on the bench.”

He added: “If I picked the team I’d pick me, but all I can do is play as well as I can. I’ve been frustrated not to have been more involved. I was really disappointed given the way things went last month not to be involved and get a start. That’s the way Declan wants it and having that competition for places is what’s best for the squad. As much as I was devastated, you have to be genuine and wish all the guys to do the best. You want to see them do well. There’s a great buzz in the Irish camp at the moment and that’s because we have that camaraderie.”

Kidney has added 12 players to the squad on top of the 22 match-day squad for the Scotland game a week ago. O’Leary is recalled along with Munster team-mates Donnacha Ryan, Mick O’Driscoll, Johne Murphy and Tony Buckley.

Leinster sees Fergus McFadden back in after making way for Tommy Bowe last week, along with Devin Toner, Kevin McLaughlin and Rhys Ruddock.

Ulster’s Andrew Trimble and Connacht’s Mike McCarthy and Gavin Duffy are the remaining additions.

Peter Stringer has been overlooked again which limits the opstions at scrumhalf. O’Leary has attracted a lot attention in the wake of the French defeat, leaving only Eoin Reddan to be promoted from the replacements. Although it is widely suspected that O’Leary’s name is already set in stone!

Stringer would  add experience and variety along with O’Gara from the bench.

Bowe and Trimble look the most likely to be selected from the call-ups after good returns over the weekend. Bowe is an almost certainty, but whether that’s at the expense of McFadden (who’s done very little wrong), Earls or D’Arcy is the big question.

The other six players called up are Mick O’Driscoll, Donnacha Ryan, Gavin Duffy, Denis Hurley, Tony Buckley and Rhys Ruddock.

Kidney will now know more about a lot of players on the fringes, Trimble, Muldoon and Cronin all put in solid performances and Tuohy, Duffy and Wallace will have done themselves no damage in their reputation.

An ‘international friendly’ is always an odd affair, but the performance mattered here far more than the result.

Half an hour of error-strewn mistakes saw Brock James kick to a 6-0 lead in 16 minutes and getting a third before the half hour – thankfully O’Gara got one in as well. We started to wonder if this was going to be a kicking game throughout – not Baa Baa’s style at all.

Xavier Rush was first to cross the line, followed by George Smith in a move that broke from their own 22, Kearney did well to catch Casey Laulala (who should have scored) but Smith grounded and James converted… Suddenly Ireland were 21-3 down!

Nothing on the board before half time would probably have finished the game off there and then, but an impressive move started by Trimble allowed Niall Ronan to scoot in under the posts and leave O’Gara to convert. 21-11 half time.

After the break O’Gara was on target with a 47th minute penalty (having gone wide five five minutes earlier). Muldoon started a move which saw Cronin dragged to the floor just a few metre’s short.

Cedric Heymans made it 26-13 with Ireland getting strong by the minute and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde was glad to kick up 56th minute penalty to put a 16 point differential down.

Ireland grew, and grew as they emptied the bench onto the field Tony Buckley went into the corner off a quick penalty and O’Gara converted to make it 29-20.

Ireland were finding form now and given an extra 20 minutes of play may have won, but a 62nd minute O’Gara penalty was all they could take away..

Final Score:
Ireland 23-29 Barbarians

Andrew Trimble picked up try of the year for his try against Bath in the Heineken Cup, Leinster’s John Fogarty collected the IRUPA Nokia Unsung Hero Award.

Girvan Dempsey was inducted into the Bord Gáis Energy IRUPA Hall of Fame, whilst Jamie Heaslip was awarded the Bord Gáis Energy IRUPA Supporters’ Player of the Year, voted for by listeners of Newstalk106-108 fm.

BORD GÁIS ENERGY IRUPA PLAYERS’ PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2010

Winner: Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)

Nominations:

Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
Keith Earls (Munster)
Jamie Heaslip (Leinster)

IRUPA NOKIA UNSUNG HERO OF THE YEAR 2010

Winner: John Fogarty (Leinster)

Nominations:

John Fogarty (Leinster)
Chris Henry (Ulster)
Michael Swift (Connacht)

IRUPA NATURE VALLEY YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2010

Winner: Fionn Carr (Connacht)

Nominations:

Fionn Carr (Connacht)
Scott Deasy (Munster)
Keith Earls (Munster)

BORD GÁIS ENERGY IRUPA HALL OF FAME 2010

Inducted: Girvan Dempsey (Leinster)

IRUPA VOLKSWAGEN TRY OF YEAR 2010

Winner: Andrew Trimble (Bath v Ulster, Heineken Cup)

Nominations:

Fionn Carr (Leinster v Connacht, Magner’s League)
Brian O’Driscoll (Leinster v Brive, Heineken Cup)
Andrew Trimble (Bath v Ulster, Heineken Cup)

SUPPORTERS’ PLAYER OF THE YEAR VOTED FOR BY LISTENERS OF NEWSTALK106-108FM

Jamie Heaslip (Leinster)

Paddy Wallace is not allowed to play, Stephen Ferris is (from the bench!), Andrew Trimble is while nobody is quite sure about Tom Court! All four players are part of the new IRFU professional players World Cup 2011 policy – which will restrict the number of games they can play in a season.

The World Cup is two years away, coupled with the fact that some players who are part of this might not even get into the side (judging by some of Ireland’s young talent) by that time means this policy is raising a few eyebrows!

Watch out for more hiccups and confusion on this subject over the next two years!

This leaves (in the absence of Trimble AND D’Arcy) Brian O’Driscoll as the only recognised centre. Munster’s Ian Dowling has been called up, along with Leinster rookie Luke Fitzgerald to assist.

A stress fracture of the forearm, will mean the end of Gordon D’Arcy’s Six Nations campaign and an operation on Monday.

It’s likely that Trimble will line-up alongside O’Driscoll now.