Kidney: Irish players can do their talking off the pitch too

DECLAN KIDNEY has given his players the green light to keep on saying it as they see it — even if some of their public utterances continue to grate against the party line.

Some of the Ireland coach’s senior lieutenants have made statements in recent weeks which, while hardly mutinous, have painted the picture of a camp that has not exactly been reading off the same hymn sheet.

Chief among them has been captain Brian O’Driscoll who has twice called out his colleagues for their indiscipline during this Six Nations, as opposed to Kidney, who has preferred to turn the spotlight for such failings on the referees.

Gordon D’Arcy echoed his centre partner’s approach last Sunday, pointing the finger of blame squarely at the men in green after another afternoon’s work was almost spoiled by their failure to live on the right side of the law in Murrayfield.

Most obvious of all, however, were Jamie Heaslip’s comments prior to the Scotland match when he suggested Jonathan Sexton and Fergus McFadden should have been demanding explanations for their demotions in Edinburgh.

“Rugby is a game of decisions, and players have to make decisions out on the pitch,” said Kidney who claimed he had no issue with any comments. “Every time a guy is carrying the ball, every time a fella is defending, he has to decide what to do.

“You can’t expect fellas to make instant decisions like that if they don’t have opinions. They have to make an opinion on what’s happening in front of them. So, if they have opinions, that’s the type of men that has got them to where they are.

“A lot of them have been successful over the years and they haven’t got that way by having no opinions. I’m not going to do anything about that, so if they express them that’s fine then too.”

Heaslip also expressed his own displeasure at being left out of the Ireland side on the last occasion they visited the Scottish capital but the Irish management team vetted the tape for any faux pas and failed to find any.

“I think we’ve all looked at that interview a number of times and you can go into it with a positive view or a negative view,” said team manager Paul McNaughton of Heaslip’s comments.

“Going into it with a positive view, without looking for anything, we didn’t see anything wrong with it. Going in it with a negative view, if you wanted to get something out of it I’m sure you could but we don’t see it as an issue with Jamie.”

Speaking of issues, a number of others refuse to go away. Among them is the high penalty count which has hamstrung Ireland’s tournament to date and another is the coach’s use of his replacements.

Up to now, Kidney has been criticised for an over-conservative use of the bench but that changed five days ago when he swapped both half-backs and replaced Rory Best with Sean Cronin on the hour.

For some, it smacked of a pre-planned decision but Kidney denied there was any such rigid strategy and added that any number of factors were taken into consideration before holding up any player’s number.

“In terms of the substitutions, you have to have a feel for it, the way it is going. Scotland made a few substitutions as well. Two pertinent ones. We made several errors across the park with different individuals that allowed Scotland a foothold in our half. That is an aspect that we have looked at as well, to try and improve.”

As for the penalty count, Kidney acknowledged the issue but seemed to question the importance it has assumed in the minds of the media by remarking that Ireland had been pinged the same amount of times as England and one less than Wales.

Kidney says there are other, much more important areas for the team to work on and improve ahead of the trip to Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.

Among them is the side’s ball retention but the coach expressed his satisfaction with their shape in defence and attack while accepting that there was room for improvement.