Ireland at a fork in the road

SLOPPY execution, poor decision-making and too many turnovers. But enough about Scotland. Tomorrow’s game at Murrayfield is one in which Ireland, too, desperately need to click back into gear.

After the unpalatably high counts in both errors and penalties that were registered in the first two RBS 6 Nations games of 2011 against Italy and France, Declan Kidney will be demanding that his players start converting possession into scores while maintaining the commitment made in the wake of the 2009 Grand Slam success and subsequent reinterpretations of rugby’s laws to expansive, running rugby.

The inclusion of Ronan O’Gara at fly-half in place of Jonny Sexton should not compromise that commitment but through better field position put Ireland in the right places to get those scores.