More than a practice run, insists Kidney

DECLAN Kidney was his usual calm, unflappable self after Saturday’s 55-0 thrashing of Canada at Thomond Park.

Long before a ball was kicked in this, his first game as Irish coach, he realised he was on a hiding to nothing. A big win would be dismissed as a foregone conclusion because of the poverty of the opposition; victory by a small margin or a defeat, would be greeted with derision.

However, it was perfectly understandable that much of what we saw on Saturday night proved little more than a practice run for Ireland although the coach didn’t see things in quite that light.