Kidney: I believe in this team

WHEN Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll yesterday characterised his team’s Six Nations campaign to date as “topsy-turvy” he was referring to the level of performances that have reduced them to championship also-rans with two wins from four games. He may also have perfectly described Ireland’s current selection policy at fly-half.

After first plumping for Jonny Sexton as his starting out-half for both last November’s internationals and this year’s RBS 6 Nations, head coach Declan Kidney then switched allegiance after the first two games to previous incumbent Ronan O’Gara.

Both have a win and a defeat against their names for their endeavours, though there is much more to all four performances than the choice of starting fly-half. Kidney yesterday recalled Sexton at O’Gara’s expense, charging the younger Leinster player to engineer for the second year in a row a victory over England and with it stop the visitors to the Aviva Stadium on Saturday from achieving their first Grand Slam since 2003.