JOHN MCHENRY: In defence of Declan

Sunday’s result was a bad one for Irish rugby, but the way some of our most esteemed pundits reacted to the result bordered on hysteria, embracing the straight-to-execution culture so evident in our society these days.

The fact Ireland lost to an inferior Scottish team is without question, but haven’t Scotland wrecked the best laid plans of many international teams at Murrayfield down throughout the years?

Declan Kidney and his coaching staff will now be forced to take responsibility for what was a very poor performance on the pitch, yet if only a very few small things like passes had gone to hand or penalty kicks found touch then the final result would likely have been so different.