Kidney calls for effort to be ‘tempered’

IRELAND can at least put one annoying statistic to bed this afternoon by ending a run of four Test-match defeats with victory over Samoa at the Aviva Stadium (2.30pm). More pertinent will be the manner in which they achieve that objective.

There have been six defeats in succession since Declan Kidney’s men last tasted success on March 13, with a Croke Park victory over Six Nations rivals Wales.

Test defeats to Scotland, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa as well as losses to the Barbarians and New Zealand Maori have followed with last Saturday night’s 23-21 reverse to the Springboks as stinging as that Six Nations loss to the Scots was last March.

The South Africans capitalised on poor set-piece rugby from Ireland and a lorry-load of handling errors as Kidney’s men remarkably failed to curb their enthusiasm for expansive rugby in the midst of a Dublin downpour.

The head coach put his hand up and took the rap for that failure to play to the conditions but the sense of frustration among the Ireland players at their own shortcomings has been just as tangible from last Saturday night onwards.

There will be 10 different starters in the Ireland team at the Aviva today from the side that started against the world champions seven days ago with Munster half-backs Peter Stringer and Ronan O’Gara charged with starting where they finished off against South Africa as late substitutes and giving the visitors a real rattle.

While Samoa should not pose as difficult a challenge as the Boks, such is the eagerness of the Irish players to either atone for past mistakes, make the most of the opportunities handed them or both, that Kidney’s chief concern yesterday was his team being too revved up to get the job done.

“We know the areas that we’ve improved,” Kidney said. “My only concern is that they’re so keen to get it right. We just have to temper that keenness and keep believing in ourselves and keep doing what they’ve been doing in training. But it’s nearly almost too much effort and that’s one thing we have to temper.”

Kidney knows that trying too hard to excel can be as problematic asunder-performance and if it does manifest itself early against the Samoans in the form of mistakes or indiscipline, his team could well have to come from behind to achieve victory.

“They’re a side that do come together in a World Cup year, with IRB backing and everything else and they’ll be very keen to start off the tour well and back up the Pacific Nations and that can give them momentum and that’s why the first 20 minutes are going to be very important.”

Ultimately, victory is all that is required of any coach but Kidney has New Zealand coming to Dublin next Saturday and he will want a week of preparation for that rather than more fire-fighting in the wake of another below-par performance.

“I don’t think a Test match has ever not been important,” said winger Andrew Trimble on Tuesday, “but it’s very important for us to stop the rot, get things right especially in preparation for the All Blacks.

“We really want to give the All Blacks a game especially after what happened on tour, but at the same time this week is about Samoa. We’ll prepare for the All Blacks next week but we just want to look at Samoa and get things right and get a performance. I think if we get a performance the result will look after itself.”

Brian O’Driscoll will lead Trimble and company, desperate to get back on a winning track.

“It excites me week in, week out, any time you get named in one of Declan’s teams. This is another opportunity to prove your worth in a green jersey, it hasn’t lost its value at all,” O’Driscoll said.

“In the early years it used to be about playing for Ireland. Now it’s turned around to being winning for Ireland. Playing’s not good enough anymore. You have to experience those good feelings, what it’s like in that dressing room after winning a tough Test match. It’s a pretty sweet feeling.”

O’Driscoll, of course, is assured of his place in Kidney’s immediate plans for the rest of this campaign and into the 2011 World Cup in 10 months but there will be plenty of competition for the other places in the squad heading down to New Zealand next September and today’s game represents an excellent opportunity to begin staking a claim. And not youngsters like hooker Sean Cronin, flanker Sean O’Brien and debutant Devin Toner, according to Kidney.

“It is a great opportunity but it’s funny, you could ask John Hayes the same question and it’s exactly the same for him,” the coach said, referring to Munster’s 38-year-old tighthead prop, who will win his 103rd cap today.

“It seems to get more difficult as you get older. Sometimes your first cap could be your easiest because you don’t know what it’s about. Their enthusiasm is palpable and that’s what I what mean about tempering it. They’re so keen on getting it right, we have to be physical, we have to try to match what Samoa will bring to it and we have to back ourselves as well with what we’re doing.”

Plenty of incentive all round, then and for a variety of reasons on a tough and potentially fiery afternoon. How tough it becomes is for Ireland’s eager beavers to determine.