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.

Muldoon’s stellar showing against the Barbarians ensured Shane Jennings had to make do with a spot on the sideline. Cronin meantime has been steadily, consistently improving towards this kind of elevation.

With Jerry Flannery and Rory Best downed, his time has come.

“It’s a cliché but one man’s loss is another man’s opportunity, so we gain that out of a tour,” said Kidney yesterday. ‘For John to go as well as he did last Friday night, I thought it was a great credit to him because it wasn’t like Quinny had a bad game either. When I came in 18 months ago, everybody said it was an aging team so it’s good to see younger fellas coming through like this. Seán came over with us to America last year and subbed for Rory Best and didn’t get any game time and was frustrated by that.

“He went to the Churchill Cup and did well and now he’s playing against the All Blacks 12 months later. That’s the progression you want to see, once you get your opportunity, you grasp it with both hands. We’re trying to build a squad, it’s about how things go in terms about getting the best use out of our players, in terms of the team, and if we don’t learn something about that on a tour like this then we’ll never learn anything.”

In a pack selection that has rewarded the patience of some of those on the fringes, none is more deserving than No 5 Mick O’Driscoll, who has waited Job-like in the background to return to an occasion like this.

The lock featured twice against the All Blacks on Eddie O’Sullivan’s 2006 tour here but has never started a match against southern hemisphere opposition. Nor has he featured in a Test of true significance for over two years.

“You’re delighted to see that coming through. Micko has gone from working for his place with Munster, being diligent there, helping Munster to do what they did and now he’s getting his go here,” acknowledged Kidney, who has also coached the 31-year old at schools level with Presentation College and provincially with Munster.

“This is why fellas go through the slog of not being the frontline fella, it’s why they hang in there and I suppose he’s a great role model to the younger players coming through.”

Kidney called upon another of his former PBC protégés as Ronan O’Gara dislodged Jonathan Sexton who had come into the tour as the incumbent out-half. Saturday’s start against Dan Carter will leave O’Gara just one Test shy of becoming Ireland’s third centurion.

‘Yeah, he’s looking forward to it, as much as he always did,” said Kidney, who pointed to O’Gara’s impressive provincial form as the key to his return to the starting line-up.

“It is never easy when you have 90-odd caps and you have a younger guy coming in behind you but he’s fought back in the best way you can imagine and he’s gone about his business.

“He doesn’t need to prove anything to anybody, he just has to go out and play his own game and that’s what we want him to do and when he does that, there’s not many better than him.”

The out-half choice was about the only position where Kidney didn’t opt for the more physical option. Against some of the most teak-tough tacklers and ruthless ruckers on the planet (mercifully, the human wrecking ball that is Ma’a Nonu is ruled out) Kidney opted for size and stability – Rob Kearney and Andrew Trimble are two such examples.

“Yeah, you do (need a physical team), because they’ll ruck you everywhere,” agreed Kidney. “You have to ruck as strong out wide as you do in close. You need to be mobile, because they do test you in all the different places.

“When you’re playing the All Blacks, you just know you’re going to be tested in various places.

“It’s a cliché, isn’t it, but if you’re going to be checked in every place, then sometimes it’s an advantage of having guys who haven’t been seen too much, they (the opposition) don’t know what they’re going to do.”