We’re united under Kidney, declares Fitzgerald

LUKE FITZGERALD, eminently likeable guy that he is, tends to give away next to nothing in interviews, so it pays to sit up and take notice when his replies begin to stretch beyond the cursory few sentences.

So it was this week when the conversation turned to the contrast between Ireland’s stunted form in the November internationals against New Zealand and Argentina and their more exuberant displays in the opening two rounds of the Six Nations.

“I thought the criticism was quite harsh on the team after the autumn internationals,” said the Leinster back. “The (new) coaching staff hadn’t had that time to get us ready for them and we hadn’t really got used to each other. I don’t think that there was a total understanding of what the coaches were trying to get across to us in terms of how they wanted us to do things in certain areas of the park. I’m not too sure too if they understood how we wanted to play the game.