Declan Kidney's chance to give youth its fling

IT looks likely that much the same Ireland pack that lost to Wales in RWC 2011 will start for the 'return match' in the Six Nations on Sunday in the Aviva Stadium.

The 32-man squad announced today is made up of seven Ulster players, 14 from Leinster, nine Munstermen and one each from Connacht and Ospreys.

Tomas O'Leary's exile continues while Isaac Boss also failed to make the cut.

We have six 'Os': O'Malley, O'Connell, O'Callaghan, O'Gara, O'Brien and O'Mahony and the scribes will be checking the records as to when we last had a pair of brothers on the same Irish team (the Wallaces spring to mind).

Five uncapped) players are named in the 32 and ten will go back home on Wednesday when the team squad is announced and it is good to see Denis Hurley and Simon Zebo recognised for their heroic performances of late with Munster.

Wales boss Warren Gatland will name his side on Friday.

The big question now is how many changes Declan Kidney will make from the team that lost to Wales in the World Cup. Who will wear BOD's 13 jersey? Will Gordon D'Arcy hold his place, will O'Callaghan hold off the challenge of Ryan, will Trimble come in or will the boss give O'Malley a chance to prove himself with Earls at 13? The Ireland team that lost to Wales in New Zealand last time out read: R Kearney; Bowe, O'Driscoll, d'Arcy, Earls; O'Gara, Murray; Healy, Best, Ross; O'Callaghan, O'Connel;, Ferris, O'Brien, Heaslip.

Old Belvedere and Leinster centre Eoin O'Malley is one of five uncapped players included in this Ireland training squad.

There are call-ups for O2 Ireland Wolfhound players Denis Hurley, Dan Tuohy, Chris Henry, Simon Zebo and Rhys Ruddock, all of whom have been capped previously for Ireland.

IRELAND Training Squad (v Wales, 2012 RBS 6 Nations):

Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)

Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)

Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)

Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster)

Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)

Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)

Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)

Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)

Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)

Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster)

Denis Hurley (Cork Constitution/Munster)

Shane Jennings (St. Mary's College/Leinster)

Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)

David Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster) *

Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)

Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)

Sean O'Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)

Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)

Paul O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster)

Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)

Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) *

Eoin O'Malley (Old Belvedere/Leinster) *

Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)

Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)

Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)

Rhys Ruddock (St. Mary's College/Leinster)

Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary's College/Leinster)

Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)

Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster)

Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)

Brett Wilkinson (Galwegians/Connacht) *

Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster) *