Key issues for Kidney to ponder
Coach Declan Kidney will have plenty to occupy his thoughts as he prepares for games against Australia, Fiji and South Africa. But what are the issues Kidney must confront in his grand design to keep Ireland up there with the very best?
THE CAPTAINCY
FEW need reminding of the dilemma the coach faced around this time last year when deciding between Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell. After a deal of soul searching, Kidney opted for O’Driscoll and it proved to be just one of his many inspired decisions.
The country’s greatest ever centre three-quarter went on to lead by example, playing some of the best rugby of his illustrious career while also setting a standard that all the others had little option but to try and emulate.
O’Driscoll was a magnificent leader and yet he made no secret of the outstanding support he received from senior members of the squad like Paul O’Connell and Ronan O’Gara.
O’Driscoll also backed O’Connell to the hilt when the Munster man was preferred as captain of the Lions by Ian McGeechan.
Kidney is indeed fortunate to have two such worthy men in the mix. O’Driscoll has led Ireland in 52 of his 93 appearances for Ireland and there seems no good reason why he shouldn’t lead the side out once again against Australia at Croke Park on Sunday week.
OUT-HALF
IT’S not so very long ago that the whole country was praying Ronan O’Gara would stay injury free. It wasn’t just that the celebrated number ten was playing out of his skin and well on his way to increasing his haul of Irish caps to 92 but there simply wasn’t anybody else capable of replacing him.
However, that situation has changed appreciably. First, O’Gara hasn’t been performing to the same consistently high level and then there has been the sudden jump to prominence of two worthy rivals, Jonathan Sexton and Ian Humphreys.
While Kidney indicated that the Ulsterman would have to settle for, at best, A team action having omitted him from this week’s squad, Sexton forced his hand with a succession of fine performances in the Leinster jersey, most notably in helping to steer them to Heineken Cup glory last season.
The major positive here is that at long last Ireland has at least one alternative in the game’s pivotal position.
FIRST CENTRE
HAVING heroically recovered from serious injury to play a key role in the closing stages of last season’s Six Nations, Gordon D’Arcy again finds himself under pressure to hang on to the number 12 jersey. He has struggled to keep his place with Leinster while Paddy Wallace has been enjoying an outstanding season as Ulster captain.
The likelihood is that Wallace will get the nod against Australia although Kidney could also be tempted to follow Leinster’s example and move Luke Fitzgerald in from the wing to make way for the inclusion of Keith Earls.
FRONT-ROW
JOHN HAYES will certainly be short of match fitness after his five week suspension but the number three jersey will remain in his possession, if only because nobody measures up to his remarkable contribution to the cause in his record 94 appearances in the number three jersey.
Hayes’s standards haven’t dropped in the slightest and he remains an invaluable member of the squad. Mike Ross, the Corkman now making a name for himself with Leinster, will come into the reckoning sooner or later.
The other side of the scrum is a major problem for the coach given the uncertainty surrounding Marcus Horan’s well being. There is an alternative in the young Leinster loose head Cian Healy and Ulster’s Tom Court. If Horan is ruled out and Healy is declared fit after a recent injury, a first cap awaits the Clontarf man.
Once again, the fitness of Jerry Flannery is the key at hooker. The job is his provided he can shake off a nagging calf injury. If not, Kidney will be looking in the direction of Sean Cronin and John Fogarty, a couple of Munstermen currently plying their trade in Connacht and Leinster.
2011 WORLD CUP
NO doubt, the old maxim of taking each game as it comes will be trotted out over the next month or so but Kidney acknowledged not so long ago that events in New Zealand in less than two years time must also come into the reckoning.
By then, it could be that more than half of his likely first XV against Australia in 12 days time will be past their sell by date.
Just think of it: Brian O’Driscoll will be 32; Paddy Wallace 32; Ronan O’Gara 34; Marcus Horan 34; Jerry Flannery 33; John Hayes 38; Donncha O’Callaghan and Paul O’Connell, both 32, and David Wallace, 35.
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