Kidney sticks to same formula

THERE may still be things to fix but Declan Kidney has decided the Ireland team that edged home against Scotland 10 days ago was not broken in the process.

The Irish head coach yesterday named an unchanged team and bench for Saturday evening’s showdown with Wales at the Millennium Stadium, when Ireland bid to make it three wins in a row over Warren Gatland’s side on their return to the arena in which the Grand Slam was secured in 2009.

Coincidentally, the last team Kidney left intact was in order to face the Welsh at Croke Park 12 months ago when, having defeated England at Twickenham, his unchanged side then won 27-12.

That the same XV, playing its third game in a row, then lost at home to Scotland would provide a counter argument to continuity but this weekend Kidney will be looking for continuity-plus: a development of the same game plan as his players executed in scoring three tries without reply at Murrayfield in round three of this year’s championship.

While an improvement on the disciplinary problems that handed Scotland five penalties and kept them in a game Ireland should have won at a canter rather than the slender 21-18 margin, will also be sought.

Asked if Ireland were on the cusp of something special after scoring seven tries with just two conceded in the first three games of the championship, Kidney said: “Every coach likes to think that, I do, there are elements of our game that are going very well and you see patches of play which are quite good.

“You are always trying to string together that 80-minute performance but realistically the opposition are going to have their good patches and it’s how you ride that out.

“It depends on what you call good play, it can be good play in a defensive sense, I’ve seen some very good defensive moments, I’ve seen some very good attacking moments so it’s marrying that together for the 80 minutes.

“Obviously there have been a few things that have happened in between times that are within our control and if we get those right the jigsaw will come together. You are always looking for that perfect game – by definition you can only play the best game of your life once so that’s what we are striving.

“We are so far up the ladder, there are another few rungs to go, if we climb another rung or two I think we will be a difficult side to play against and that’s what we want.

“We will never hold ourselves out as being unbeatable or anything but we want to make ourselves a difficult side to beat so that when sides are playing against Ireland they are not looking forward to it.”

Wales coach Warren Gatland also named his team yesterday and has retained the same pack which saw off Italy in Rome two weekends ago but has rejigged the back line with two new faces and two positional switches.

Cardiff wing Leigh Halfpenny and Scarlets centre Jonathan Davies come in for Saturday’s game with fly-half Stephen Jones and wing Morgan Stoddart dropping to the bench.

That means Ospreys’ James Hook moves to fly-half, a role he played for the first time for Wales in the win over Scotland.

Davies returns from hamstring trouble to reform his midfield partnership with club-mate Jamie Roberts, who switches to outside centre, while Halfpenny replaces Scarlets wing Stoddart.

Kidney saw more significance in the new midfield pairing that Gatland’s choice at fly-half but said it would make little difference to what he expected to be a very tight game in Cardiff.

“I don’t think it will affect their style of play a whole lot,” Kidney said of Hook’s switch to number 10. “They obviously have a lot of strength in their centres, there’s two strong lads in the middle of the pitch and that will give them a lot of go-forward. I don’t see a whole lot in the game, it will be a tight one, there will probably be a few chances for each side and whoever manages to take their scores will come out on top.”