How Kidney made a happy camp

IN THE end, even the French supporters stood and applauded. It was that kind of match, honour in defeat, glorious satisfaction in victory. The Irish performance and result against France on Saturday offers sufficient evidence to indicate Declan Kidney and his management team have addressed many of the issues that contributed to those disappointing displays back to and including the 2007 World Cup.

The reaction of the Irish players at the final whistle suggested that a massive burden had been lifted off their collective shoulders.

On the evidence of the other two Six Nations games last weekend, Wales apart, there isn’t much to cause many sleepless nights for Kidney. However Lions coach Ian McGeechan may take a different view, especially in light of the shortcomings displayed by England and Scotland.

The quality of the tournament’s opening game in Twickenham would have had our southern hemisphere brethren shaking their heads in disbelief; England, despite scoring five tries, were very poor. They kicked away the majority of possession and relied on the all-too-frequent mistakes from their Italian visitors to score. At least Italy will draw some consolation from their self-imposed limitations at scrum half as the cause of most of their difficulties. It’s safe to say outstanding wing forward Mauro Bergamasco will not feature in the number nine shirt next Sunday against Ireland.

Under pressure due to a horrible sequence of injuries, coach Nick Mallet thought outside the box with a decision that will haunt him forever. It was the equivalent of Declan Kidney asking David Wallace to deputise for Tomas O’Leary despite the fact that he has never played at scrum half before. In rugby, even allowing for the fact that many roles are now interchangeable, hooker and scrum half are highly technical, specialist positions.

Italy’s game fell apart after only 15 minutes and the game was almost irretrievable at that stage. What is clear with the likelihood that the veteran Paul Griffin will be recalled for the Irish game is that the Italians still have the facility to frustrate any team. Ireland, after the difficulties they faced in the World Cup warm-up in Belfast and the opening Six Nations game in Croke Park last season, will do well to remember that.

The most tangible benefit of last Saturday’s Croke Park win is the feelgood factor that a victory of that manner will generate in the squad. For too long now the heads were down and players were clearly not enjoying the experience in a green shirt. Kidney was seriously taken aback by the lack of confidence when he came on board.

He set about addressing that immediately but had little room to manoeuvre in November because of the pressure to retain a top eight ranking after the autumn series. The result of the Argentina game would linger for three years right up to the 2011 World Cup.

Having safely negotiated that first hurdle he then set about creating a happier camp. Where possible he has minimised the amount of time spent in hotels and has broken up the weeks training by allowing players spend a night in their own bed.

The players have also had a greater input into the composition of the game plan and consequently have taken greater ownership of what is happening on the pitch.

It is no coincidence that the smiles have returned to the faces and the genuine delight from their colleagues to the tries from Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy was a recognition in itself of the testing time both players have endured recently.

What is also clear is that the younger brigade of Rob Kearney, Luke Fitzgerald, Tomas O’Leary, Stephen Ferris, Jamie Heaslip, Tommy Bowe and the absent Keith Earls, none of whom featured in the last World Cup just 15 months ago, are now an integral part of the squad and offer stability and building blocks for several years to come.

As ever with some sections of the Irish media and public, there is a danger that expectation levels will grow out of proportion once again overnight, but the players and management have no control over that. They must attempt to maximise the areas they can influence. The next two games against Italy and England will require a different type of focus as Ireland will be expected to win. Already eyes are straying to the last game of the tournament when Ireland travel to Cardiff.

Warren Gatland’s side were very impressive at times at Murrayfield even if the stop-start nature of that game due to two serious injuries killed their momentum. It is a venue that has caused them terrible problems in recent times but they negotiated that barrier without ever extending themselves. In that they were assisted by a Scottish effort that was very disappointing. The loss of Nathan Hines and Euan Murray proved a bridge too far for their front five and they will make a difference when they return.

In comparison to the Welsh, their back play was dreadful. The only chink of light offered was on the introduction of Max Evans, who will surely start the next day.

Ireland now return to Rome for the first time since that complete performance two years ago which yielded eight tries and 51 points in a performance that was within a whisker of delivering a first championship since 1985. I expect Kidney will retain the same starting team and bench, in an effort to build continuity. Gordon D’Arcy’s impact when introduced against France will be a talking point but he is likely to be held back and offered further game time with Leinster the following week against the Scarlets in the Magners League.

Sunday’s game in Rome will offer another stringent test of Ireland up front but also an opportunity to build on their ball in hand, offloading game which is developing nicely. Italy will make life hard for the visitors, as they always do, but their limitations at half back and lack of finishing power out wide continue to militate against them making a serious impact at this level.

Expected wins for Ireland, Wales (against England) and France (against Scotland) in Paris should confirm the two-tier nature of this year’s tournament.