Kidney waits on O’Connell
O’Connell hasn’t played since Ireland’s final Six Nations game, against Scotland, on March 20 and it had been speculated that he would be excused duty from the trip down under as he struggles to recover from what is proving to be a persistent groin injury.
Among those who have been omitted because of injury are Stephen Ferris (broken cheekbone), Denis Leamy, Luke Fitzgerald (both knee) and Donncha Ryan (shoulder) while Sean O’Brien’s lack of game time since returning from a broken leg has ruled him out.
Leinster captain Leo Cullen has also been handed a summer vacation due to the shoulder injury which saw him sit out last Saturday’s Magners League semi-final win over Munster but Kidney has decided against resting any players on the basis of anything other than injuries. As with O’Connell, there had been arguments made in favour of leaving some of the team’s elder statesmen at home for some R&R but 30-somethings such as John Hayes and David Wallace will be packing their bags the same as everyone else.
Kidney explained that there was no empirical evidence to suggest that four months away from the game would benefit a player of Hayes’ vintage but added that he would ‘mind’ his older tourists as much as the tour allows.
“After all we are going to the countries that are ranked number one and three in the world and I think we can be a good side but it’s not like we’re so indebted with resources that we can just leave a whole team behind us. At what point do you start and at what point do you stop? At any stage there’s going to be guys unavailable and if you start making other guys unavailable then you can end up travelling without 15.”
The Ireland coach also pointed to the difficulties experienced by both Leinster and Munster when fielding virtual second-string sides in this year’s Magners League by way of expressing his preference for old blood as well as new.
Three uncapped players have made the cut, Leinster’s Fergus McFadden as well as the Ulster pair of Chris Henry and Dan Tuohy, while Kevin McLaughlin, John Muldoon and Sean Cronin are almost as light on experience at the highest level.
Munster back row Alan Quinlan and Leinster prop Mike Ross were two players whose absences from yesterday’s list generated some comment but Kidney left the door open for both and refuted the suggestion that, at 35, Quinlan was not an option for the next World Cup.
Both could well be on the list of 13 players to have been placed on standby ahead of the departure for a tour that Kidney is hoping will tick a number of boxes aside from the obvious one of claiming what would be an historic win away to one of the Tri-Nations sides.
Ireland will also face the Barbarians on June 4 at Thomond Park before their departure for the test in New Zealand and a fixture with the New Zealand Maoris, in New Plymouth and Rotorua respectively. Both are venues for two of their World Cup, Pool C ties next year.
The tour will wrap up with a fixture against one of those pool opponents, Australia, in Brisbane and Kidney intends to find game time for as many players as possible without deflecting from the team’s ability to contest for victories.
“That’s why we asked for the extra matches. At the one time you are pulling on a green jersey and you never want to give that away cheaply but we have two extra matches that don’t have ranking points involved.
“If there is one that is akin to Test match it is the Maori and the Barbarians is always a full-blown test match too because you are probably playing against 15 internationals so it is a great opportunity to pick some guys, bring them up to speed in terms of match time and also to give lads experience going forward, see how they match up with a view to the World Cup.”
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