Kidney makes hard decisions

CONSERVATISM has often been the stick with which their critics like to beat Munster.

But that charge can hardly be levelled looking the side chosen to play Castres Olympique in tonight’s all-important Heineken Cup game, at the Stade Pierr-Antoine.

Coach Declan Kidney had a few difficult decisions to make, most notably which of his three second-row options to demote to the replacement panel. In the end, it is Mick O’Driscoll who will miss out and Kidney’s pain must have been as great as the player’s when he informed O’Driscoll of the situation.

If we saw one side of the coach in that decision, then Kidney’s preference for Ian Dowling over Anthony Horgan, on the left wing, and for Barry Murphy over Gary Connolly, in the centre, belies an equal but opposite tendency.

Murphy has only once previously started a Heineken Cup game and Dowling is making his debut.

It could be argued, therefore, that Munster are putting out a relatively “greenhorn” threequarter line to take on the Castres fliers, who are free to show off their talents in a game that means absolutely nothing to them in terms of qualifying for the knock-out stages of the competition.

An old Munster “friend”, Freddie Tuilagi, formerly of Leicester, has been chosen in the centre with Aussie Brad Fleming on the wing. They are sure to give it a good rattle while their challenge, if anything, will be all the more unpredictable given the selection of Romain Teulet, normally a full-back, at out-half - in place of French international Yann Delaigue.

Delaigue, carrying a minor injury, centre and place kicker Laurent Marticorena, New Zealand prop Kees Meeuws, French international second-row Lionel Nallet and volatile Englishman Paul Volley have all been rested by coaches Laurent Seigne and Philippe Berot, no doubt because of the impending French Championship games.

Castres are currently fifth in that competition, one behind the fourth -placed team and five adrift of leaders Toulouse, so there is no doubt where their priorities lie. However, as we are told, ad nauseam, French sides hate to lose at home - so there is no question of an easy ride for Kidney’s men tonight.

Promising displays by Dowling and Murphy in recent Celtic League games convinced Kidney that they were worthy of their places but it clearly pained the coach to leave Mick O’Driscoll out of the starting line-up.

“While it’s always great to have a player of Paul O’Connell’s calibre back, he’d be the first to admit that he’s taking over the shoes of a very good player,” he said.

“The Donncha/Paul combination went well in Edinburgh and while Micko had a good game against Leinster, it’s a combination thing as much as anything. Quite simply, it couldn’t be a reflection on Mick’s form because he has been playing well.”

Kidney insisted that the preference for Dowling over Horgan was “a measure of how we feel about Ian rather than a reflection on Anthony.”

“He’s very keen to get on the ball, he carries it well and while he doesn’t have huge experience, I think it’s a good call. As for their team, they’ve made six changes in the pack since we played them at home.

“In their last two championship games, they have scored 120 points and that will give them an awful lot of confidence, especially as fellows who didn’t play last week will be trying to follow suit.

“For example, Tuilagi went off early in the match in Limerick and we weren’t sorry about that.”

As for the absence of Delaigue, who is nearing his 33rd birthday, Kidney is unfazed:

“He missed out on the first game but Teulet knows all about us. But I’m concerned with my own side. The walking wounded have worked wonderfully well to get fit and full marks also to the physios for that.”

“Every time you lose a game in Europe, the next one is like a cup final. We’re under no less or no more pressure than we were going into round two. They’re all must-win situations.

“You can let it subsume you or believe that this is what you’re in it for.”

There’s little doubt that Kidney’s players are on the right wavelength going into tonight’s game. It remains to be seen whether they can lift the standard of their play from its recent mediocrity to set up the father and mother of all confrontations, in eight days time, with Sale at Thomond Park.