Tough calls to name first fifteen

THE RETURN after injuries of a number of players and the emergence of quality new talent made Declan Kidney’s task of selecting his side for tonight’s Heineken Cup quarter-final at Stradey Park more difficult than he had expected.

In spite of the continued absence of Shaun Payne and Paul O’Connell, Kidney admitted to a dilemma when choosing his back division “because there’s great competition there now. Even though we are down Shaun (Payne), you had John Kelly and Anthony Horgan coming back into it, while Brian Carney did well last week, Mossie Lawler is back and leaving Barry Murphy out was not easy.”

The preference for New Zealander Lifeimi Mafi over Murphy was one of the big talking points and while the pack more or less picked itself, Kidney still deliberated before finally making up his mind.