Think he's given a rest to some of the prominent Leinster players who played in both finals recently and have played a lot of rugby since last years Lions tour. Would expect Healy, Cronin, Furlong, Toner, Leavy, Sexton and Ringrose all to start the next test, possibly some of with Porter, Beirne, Ruddock, Conan, Marmion, Larmour and Conway all playing some part as well.
Joe is clearly looking to give serious game time to the depth and combinations he has been building. It's a great time to do it for me - so much better to see how Murray and Carberry can play together in a difficult tour of Australia, rather than waiting until forced by injuries in a world cup quarter final like last time.
Looking forward to seeing how the front row get on. I haven't been convinced by Herring but Joe seems to really rate him and with Australia having their own issues at hooker, this is a great opportunity for him to impress. John Ryan needs a big performance with Porter looking like he's overtaken him as Irelands second choice tighthead this year.
The bench is outrageous. If we're within 10 points with 20 minutes to go, that front row along with Sexton and Larmour could come on and wreak havoc.
I haven't been looking forward to a summer tour this much in years. There's an element of unknown both with ourselves, and the combinations we are trying, but even more so with the Australians and what sort of sides they're going to field and how they'll click.
I reckon we're going to surprise their fans (if not their team) a bit with the brand of rugby we'll play. You can see from the articles written, they're very much expecting a forwards driven, kick heavy and attritional game plan but over the last 18 months we've expanded our style a lot and will look to attack them in a variety of areas. Obviously Oz are one of the most difficult sides to defend against in world rugby so we're in for a treat I'd say.
