Opportunity knocks for Connacht stars

ON his first mission south as Ireland coach, Declan Kidney delved deep into the west yesterday.

Bidding to navigate a way through the dense fog of an unparalleled injury crisis and somehow conjure up a huge piece of history, Kidney called upon a pair of untried, untested Connacht men.

John Muldoon and Seán Cronin will swap the Spartan surrounds of the Sportsground for all the Maori mayhem of Taranaki’s Saturday night lights when they go up against the All Blacks in this weekend’s Test. It’s a risk but with a squadron of stricken men left back home, it’s the type of call that was always going to have to be made.