Managing expectations

KIDNEY got it right after the Australian game when stating that: “I didn’t think we were a bad team after last year’s autumn internationals and I don’t think we’re a great one now.”

Brian O’Driscoll sang from the same hymn sheet on Saturday after the defeat of the Springboks when stressing that “we won’t be losing the run of ourselves.”

Both recognise it would be absurd to believe this team has attained perfection.

While Kidney never praises individuals or one of his team’s performances too highly, likewise he doesn’t target anyone or any area for criticism. That doesn’t make him unique in the man management stakes but the success of his ways are there for all to see.

The coach will be largely out of the limelight for the next couple of months while the provinces take centre stage but that doesn’t mean he won’t be active.

He has already proposed to the IRFU that approximately 30 players should be relieved of their Magners League duties in the early weeks of next season with a view to having them fresh and ready for the World Cup in New Zealand in 2011. However, convincing the public to keep a lid on their expectation levels will be an even more difficult exercise. He has already pointed out that the Six Nations matches against France and England are both away with the visit to Paris on February 13 a particularly hazardous exercise. France are definitely a better side than they looked against New Zealand in Marseilles on Saturday and England can hardly be as bad again as they have been over the past month.

FEW would argue that Jonathan Sexton was anything other than excellent against both Fiji and South Africa landing 12 of his 14 shots at goal. However, there was much more to his performances than his goalkicking duties and they lay off with a hand injury he picked up against the Boks may prove a blessing in disguise.

However, the number 10 jersey isn’t his just yet and the colleague who jubilantly chanted ‘goodbye Rog’ to me shortly after the final whistle on Saturday should heed Kidney’s words: “We now have a world-class out-half and an up-and-coming out-half.”

No marks for figuring which player fits into each category. Kidney would have to be insane to write off Ronan O’Gara at this stage and there’s no way he will do so. That said, though, the pressure is now on O’Gara to prove he still has what it takes, starting with the Munster-Ospreys clash in Swansea this weekend. Back-to-back crucial Heineken Cup matches against Perpignan are next on the list and after that it should be reasonable to again contrast what these two fine number tens bring to the table.

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL has been marshalling his sector of the pitch so shrewdly and effectively that one hardly notices that it is an area in need of a little tweaking.

Paddy Wallace again departed the pitch injured on Saturday with Gordon D’Arcy called in to shore up an area the Springboks had been targeting with some success. The Wexford man also impressed in attack and for me is clearly the better bet in the number 12 jersey. Furthermore, Luke Fitzgerald’s footballing acumen and pace will be missed on the left wing. For all his pace, brilliant lines of running, his courage and his defensive qualities, Keith Earls just doesn’t seem suited to the position. If necessary, he will do a job there and a very good one, too, but you suspect Kidney will be looking at alternatives.

THE big grey area in the team. Cian Healy will be a great Irish prop one day but he struggled to cope with the mighty BJ Botha on Saturday. The good news is that Marcus Horan is recovering well from his recent illness, has been doing light work in the gym and should be back in action in early January. On the other side of the scrum, you have to wonder how long more John Hayes (36) can be expected to last 80 minutes against the top sides. For now, he’s the only contender for the number three jersey but it would be a huge boost to the man himself and the team in general should, say, Tony Buckley measure up over the coming weeks and months. Mike Ross is another option and certainly this is an area where those with serious ambitions might well have them realised.

WHICH brings us nicely on to the World Cup in two years’ time. Kidney and his excellent management team are contracted until that event is over and naturally are already focussing in on it. They are already doing so, in fact, given their approaches to the IRFU for some breathing space for the elite players at the beginning of next season. The fact that Kidney has been drip feeding two or three of the younger brigade into the system (Jonathan Sexton, 24; Cian Healy, 22, Sean O’Brien, 22, and Sean Cronin, 23) also indicates that he is fully aware that some of those who have served him best at both provincial and national level just mightn’t be up to the challenge in another two years.

Eight of Saturday’s starting XV were under 30 which is also an encouraging statistic. When it was suggested to him at the weekend that there was more to come in the development of this group, he smiled and said: “A coach has to say yes to that one.”