My understanding had been that he was only removed from the squad after injury was confirmed
The squad announcement seemed to imply that he wasn't considered due to injury but subsequent comments suggest that he could have been picked (and indeed he was back in training this week) but wasn't. My take is that he may still have lost out but with the injury not guaranteed to heal he wasn't considered. But he wasn't on the not considered due to injury list so essentially he's been dropped. Which means it's probably the first time in 7 or 8 years he hasn't been in the 22 when he could have been. And when he's playing his best rugby too.
Ah well, we've currently an embarassement of riches in the outside backs so we can't really complain.
There may be an embarassment of riches, but will they click?
I can't help but think that a lot of Leinster players have been short-changed. Hickie, Heaslip, Kearney, Reggie, Gleeson, Easterby, and now swerve as well. On top of this, former Leinster players like Jennings, Casey, Cullen and Brennan lost out (either on the 22 or on the original 35-man squad entirely). I'm not saying I'd have gone with all those guys, but it seems that the Leinster boys drew the short straw on all the tight calls...a pattern seems to have emerged: if you're good but not great make sure you've either played or are playing for Munster (eg. Reddan, Mick O'Driscoll, the list goes on)...
EOS is not biased against Leinster. In either 2002 or 2003, can't remember, there were something like 19 Leinster players involved between the A and senior squads. Players like Dillon, Hickie.G and O'Riordan got A caps while sitting on the Leinster bench while 4 of the pack and 4 of the backline were in the senior team. There's an argument for a lot of players to be included but when looked at individually none of the calls are that strange. The only one I'd have would be the backrow bench option with any of Heaslip, Miller or Gleeson being a better option than JOC. Easterby, while in good form, is a step backwards and Reddan's in decent form too. Hickie isn't back to full fitness while I'm going to get all controversial and say that I'm happy enough that Dempsey wasn't picked. He's in decent form but he doesn't offer us enough in attack and the fact that he isn't picked shows that EOS's mindset has changed a bit towards a more attack orientated gameplan. I know that Dempsey has been doing ok in attack but his only attacking strength is his running lines. He doesn't carry well into contact and doesn't have any sort of step or ability to beat players while his passing is average. I don't think his defence is worth it. He's great to have in reserve though.
So, for me I think only Heaslip and Gleeson can feel upset to be left out but comparing Wallace v Gleeson is a tight call while Leamy v Heaslip is also tight enough. Realistically we could only have expected one of them to be in the 22.
