White: players must be rested

FORMER South Africa coach Jake White believes Ireland boss Declan Kidney should ‘sacrifice’ the Six Nations to boost his side’s chances of World Cup glory next year.

White, who took his country to World Cup glory in 2007, made his comments on RTÉ Radio One’s Sport at Seven last night.

He also believes Kidney should consider excusing other top players from the summer and autumn tours in a bid to have them as mentally and physically fresh as possible for next year’s quests for silverware.

White reasoned: “You’ve got some fantastic players who’ve been around for a long time and they don’t really need to prove anything more at international stage.

“Maybe you’ve got to rest them (the big names) in the Six Nations next year and I know the die hard stalwart supporters will say that can never happen …

“You’ve got to make a decision because you can’t play that same group of players for the rest of the year and next year because you’re going to end up with a lot of weary players come the World Cup.”

However White admits that a win in New Zealand on the summer tour could be priceless in terms of confidence ahead of next season’s tournament.

“The catch for Declan (Kidney) is that you don’t want to go to New Zealand and not feel what it’s like to win there because you’ve got to go back there and play in a World Cup, so it’s a bit of a catch 22.

“You want to create a bit of a winning culture away from home, a bit of a winning culture in New Zealand, you want to be able to get players to understand that they can win in New Zealand, because if that happens they can beat Australia.”