Kidney: French move won’t hinder O’Leary

Declan Kidney has promised Tomás O’Leary that a move to France will not preclude him from playing for Ireland again.

However he warned the scrum-half that a possible exit from Munster will remove him from the Irish management’s line of sight.

O’Leary, no longer first choice number nine in his native province, having fallen behind Conor Murray in the pecking order, is understood to be weighing up a move at the end of the season to French side Perpignan rather than accepting a new deal at Munster, with his agent suggesting a decision will be made this week. Kidney, who omitted the injury-hit Grand Slam winner from his 30-man World Cup squad last autumn was yesterday asked if O’Leary would put himself out of future selections should he opt for Perpignan.

Kidney said: “You always want as many Irish players playing at home as is possible and you don’t want to see anybody leaving. We would put a lot of stock (of players) in the provinces because we believe in the work that is done there. You are going to get to see a provincial side seven or eight times a season and when somebody plays abroad you might not see them anyway near as much as that. So you’re dependent more on video footage.

“All these decisions are big decisions in a lad’s career and we’ll wish him well whatever he decides. You’d like to see them at home as we get to see them more often at home. If they do go abroad we’re not going to hold that against them and if they’re playing well enough we’ll pick them.”