Cautious Kidney plays up ‘hungry’ Scotland threat

NEVER a man for brash predictions or bold statements, Declan Kidney was his traditionally understated self on the eve of this evening’s Triple Crown clash at Croke Park.

The Ireland coach was echoing the view that Scotland are on the threshold of a breakthrough under Andy Robinson, and he believes that his job this week has been to make sure that the watershed moment isn’t today.

After defeats to France, Italy and Wales and last week’s draw with England, the Scots, who started their Six Nations off with hopes of an upturn in fortunes, are staring down the handle of a Wooden Spoon.

But Kidney says he’s not being fooled by their results, saying Scotland are still a team he holds in high esteem.

“When you see the Scottish team turning up for work this week, after drawing against England, you know they’re on the verge or something,” he said. “We just have to make sure that it’s not this weekend.

“I am an admirer of the Scots, they’re a hugely physical side. I went along to Leinster v Glasgow game to see some of lads who didn’t make Irish or Scottish teams. And the Scottish lads just pummel you defensively. You’ve got to be sharp like we were last week, try to take our scores. I don’t think there’s going to be much in it.

“They’re very big men, they’re direct and they’re hungry. You can’t coach hunger because it’s either in players or it’s not and the way that their players got themselves through a match like last week and all showed up fit shows they’re capable of getting a result.”

After confirming that Gordon D’Arcy would take his place in the centre after coming through the Captain’s Run unscathed, the former Munster coach refused to get drawn into talk of a Triple Crown.

“You have to be careful day before match,” he said. “We’ve always taken one game at time and if that leads to some silverware then that will be a huge bonus. We lost in Paris, at some stage we’ll lose another match. But the way the lads have come back afterwards, the silver ware would be an added bonus. You know, any day you play green jersey is different and we’ve to go out and play good Scottish team who are after drawing against England.

“If you look at the Wales game they were up by ten points with five minutes to go and five seconds to go there was a kick-off and Wales, to their credit, got a try. We know there was nothing in those matches, and in England we were fortunate enough to get a win with three minutes to go. So, we really just need to narrow in and concentrate on getting the better of, what I think is a very good Scottish team with lots of points to prove.

“Everyone will look for an angle. You look for whatever motivating factor. They have a hugely proud record against us, be it stop us from winning the Triple Crown or getting an away win. Everybody will look for their own motivation, the Scots are no different to ourselves.”

His captain agreed with his coach that the Scots are strong, but Brian O’Driscoll is focusing on Ireland’s strengths rather than worrying about what Robinson’s men will throw at them.

“We’re just viewing Scotland as another obstacle in the way of obtaining some silverware,” he said. “There’s no point in contemplating defeat, you just have to think about the process of winning and it will take care of itself. They have potential looking at the calibre of their players. We can’t be concerned with what they might throw at us, we just have to implement our game plan and be defensively sound as we have been in the last couple of games.”