Kidney: ‘this was a very special day’

COACH Declan Kidney was bursting with pride at the manner in which his team came through to qualify from arguably the toughest pool in the history of the Heineken Cup.

The coach was always proud of the men under his command, but admitted this was different: “This was a very special day. I was focused on just winning the game but thinking about it now, beating a team of Wasps’ calibre by any score, one point, two points, whatever, was always going to be a big ask.

“To do it in the way the boys went methodically through the game speaks volumes for them and the decision-makers out on the pitch for the way they played it. At 12-3 we might have won the match but Wasps could have gone through had they scored a try. And to be in thick of things in the middle of a pitch and to know that and still have the control the way they did it, says so much about them.