Ireland, Munster in safe hands
They may be only temporary arrangements but, in both cases, it proves that the game in this country remains in safe hands. Foley and O’Donovan go back a long way, to these halcyon days of the All-Ireland League, with Shannon in the 1990s through the emergence of Munster as a major force in the professional game in tandem with Ireland finding their feet in the radical changes overtaking the sport.
Foley captained Munster to Heineken Cup glory, O’Donovan partnered Declan Kidney in the province’s evolution as one of Europe’s finest before going on to becomeEddie O’Sullivan’s forwards coach with the national side. As Foley’s illustrious playing career wound down, O’Donovan assisted O’Sullivan in Ireland’s good and not so good days in the new millennium until the World Cup failure in 2007 changed everything for the genial Limerick man. O’Sullivan and O’Donovan gave way to a new regime to be headed by Kidney.
Foley’s career path continued on predictable and largely successful lines with Munster and he is now favourite to replace Tony McGahan in the number one position. But little has been heard of O’Donovan in recent times.
He was linked with one or two teams, most recently Old Belvedere, but none of the many prestigious jobs that became available went his way.
Even when he was appointed to stand in for Foley while he is away with Ireland, the move came very much under the radar. O’Donovan will see this as an opportunity to demonstrate that he still has much to offer and that a few good weeks with Munster could lead to greater things.
Meanwhile, Foley is back with Kidney and Ireland as they prepare for the intimidating task of facing France in Paris. It will be interesting to see if Axel has the time (or is given the opportunity) to influence the team’s forward strategy or if he will simply implement the many plans put in place by Gert Smal over the last few years.
Either way, there are few better than Foley to ensure the most ideal possible preparation of the Irish forward pack.
The likelihood is that he will be working with the same eight thatbegan the matches against Wales and Italy, although there is a case for choosing Donnacha Ryan fromthe outset given how well he hasperformed in recent times with both province and country.
Kidney is more likely to stick with Donncha O’Callaghan, such a marvellous campaigner over the years, and the near certainty is that both men will be given a fair share of time to make their presence felt.
Much the same applies at scrum-half, where Conor Murray’s withdrawal in the 53rd minute against Italy suggests he is under serious pressure from Eoin Reddan. Subsequently, however, Kidney stressed that “a bit of wearing down had been done” by the time the change was made, a hint, perhaps, that he will stand by Murray for the weekend.
It is not Kidney’s form to alter a side that has won a game by 32 points regardless of the opposition. Nor should it be believed that he hasmade himself a hostage to fortune by playing Jonny Sexton and Ronan O’Gara in the same back line for the final half-hour on Saturday.
That’s a possibility for some future date, certainly not from the start of a game against France in Paris! If there is to be any change at all, it could be positional, with Tommy Bowe and Keith Earls switching positions so that the bigger man would be positioned to negate the physical presence of the giant French centre Aurelien Rougerie. The French certainly didn’t look unbeatable at Murrayfield on Sunday.
Trouble is, they’re a different proposition at home — as countless Irish teams have discovered to their cost.
