Kearney, Jackman and Heaslip get first Six Nations starts
Unfortunately for the trio, they get their chance, not in the relative comfort of a game against Italy at Croke Park, but in the red hot cauldron of Stade de France in Paris.
The other changes in the side were forced on the coach with Andrew Trimble moving from the wing to centre in place of the injured Gordon D’Arcy.
Geordan Murphy switches to the right wing to make way for Kearney, who impressed when replacing D’Arcy last week. However Murphy is a slight doubt due to corneal damage and is due to see a specialist to assess the problem. Fit again Shane Horgan must be content with a place on the bench where he will have the deposed Simon Easterby and Rory Best for company.
It seems a great pity that Kearney, Jackman and Heaslip weren’t given their head last week and they will certainly have their mettle tested against Mark Lievremont’s new look French side that won comfortably against Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday.
Trimble, as expected, will partner skipper Brian O’Driscoll in the centre but even then he will wear the number 12 jersey rather than the 13 in which he has performed bravely for a struggling Ulster side this season.
And there will be disappointment in the northern end of the country that there is still no recognition for Tommy Bowe.
“I looked at the performance of Jackman and Heaslip when they came off the bench and balanced that against what they might bring to the game in Paris and decided to give them a chance,” explained O’Sullivan.
“Carrying the football has been one of the highlights of their game with Leinster. Going to Paris with some extra ball carriers is a good thing. I think it’s fair to give them a start. There’s a big difference between coming off the bench in a Six Nations game and starting a Six Nations game. It’s a reward for that. It’s the same with Rob Kearney, he came off the bench much earlier and also did very well.”
The left wing position rested between Kearney and Bowe with O’Sullivan rationalising that: “there were no grounds for dropping Rob so that was a straightforward selection. I’m not saying Tommy hasn’t put up his hand but if you put him in there, somebody else loses out.”
O’Sullivan acknowledges an extremely difficult assignment lies in wait in Paris — a city where they have won only once since 1972.
“Their performance on Sunday was very French in a sense,” said O’Sullivan.
“They looked for opportunities at all times to run with the ball, to get wide into the outside channels but then had the capacity to truck it up as well if they had to. So it was a pretty balanced performance. We saw how dangerous they were latching onto half chances and were very clinical in how they finished them. They tried to up the tempo a lot, they want a fast pace and a open running game. That’s a reflection on how they want to go about their business.
“I can’t see them trying to change too much. What they were doing Sunday worked pretty well for them and Mark Lievremont will want to establish a style and a pattern of play they’re comfortable with. They may put some extra wrinkles in it but I don’t see it changing too dramatically.”
France’s ability to take their chances contrasted to a degree to Ireland’s failure to do likewise against Italy.
O’Sullivan accepts that his side made a few good line breaks and some really good chances to score tries and weren’t clinical in finishing them off.
“In the first half, there were two clear line breaks, one pass went behind Girvan (Dempsey) and another occasion Eoin Reddan passed to an Italian,” he pointed out. “Those are the kind of opportunities that, if you create, you have to take and we didn’t do that. We also had line breaks in the second half and didn’t capitalise so that was really it, it was about finishing. Our attacking shape was good and what we were trying to do was the right thing but our execution was a bit off and that’s something we’ve had before in the first game of the championship.”
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