Jones ready to stake his claim for full-back

THIS time last year, Felix Jones had just half a dozen games for Munster under his belt.

On Saturday, he will make his full debut for Ireland with an unexpected place in Declan Kidney’s World Cup squad lying tantalisingly within reach.

Injuries to Rob Kearney and Geordan Murphy have helped open up the door. So too has Luke Fitzgerald’s unconvincing audition at 15 last season while the jury remains out on where exactly Keith Earls can be posted most profitably.

All of which isn’t to say that Jones has been the somewhat fortunate recipient of some unfortunate occurrences. He certainly hasn’t. Not when he had to come back from an horrific neck injury of his own in 2010.

An U20 Grand Slam winner four years ago and starting full-back on a triumphant Churchill Cup side in 2009, he earned his shot with Ireland on the back of some impressive displays for Munster last season and added to that with two cameos against Scotland and France.

“I always think as a coach that the biggest compliment you can give a guy is to pick him,” said Declan Kidney yesterday. “He has worked extremely hard to get back to where he is and I believe he deserves a go.

“I’m delighted for Felix and hopefully he will enjoy the day Saturday.”

Jones is the one ‘bolter’ on the team which Kidney named in Carton House to face France at the Aviva Stadium this weekend but Andrew Trimble’s recent return to prominence has been only slightly less of a surprise.

His selection yesterday made him the only player to start all three warm-up games and Kidney was quick to back up the claims of a man whose international career spans almost six years, 34 caps and counting.

“Andrew played very well in the last two matches but I wouldn’t put him in the category of bolter.

“He has a lot of caps under his belt and he has always played well for Ireland and has shown good form of late.

“It’s not something he has pulled out of the drawer. Everyone wants to pull the performance of their life out of the drawer all the time but it happens only once.

“Andrew played very well in the England (Six Nations) game. It’s just that he’s got a run of opportunities here.”

Trimble and Jones aside, Kidney’s choices seem to be travelling along expected lines.

The pack that will start at the weekend is close to his strongest with David Wallace reappearing at seven and the fit again Jerry Flannery destined to make his third straight appearance off the bench at some point.

The return of Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy is a further boost to preparations after two defeats to Scotland and France while Jonathan Sexton and Tomas O’Leary have been given the nod to start this one with Ronan O’Gara and Eoin Reddan held in reserve.

If there is one other surprise it may well be the presence of Mike McCarthy on the sideline alongside them although Donncha Ryan has started the last two games and it may well be that he has been afforded a rest on the bench against Connacht tonight. Tommy Bowe’s seasonal bow has been put back another week as a precaution while Stephen Ferris will surely be afforded the opportunity to return to the paddock for the first time since January against Marc Lievremont’s side.

“It’s a bit early for Tommy Bowe,” Kidney explained. “He trained fully this morning, playing sort of what you would call non-contact stuff the other day and it was interesting to see Tommy and Stephen Ferris running at each other full tilt. Both got up.”

In terms of those aiming to make it into Monday’s final squad, the Connacht tie at Donnybrook holds more allure. Geordan Murphy returns to the green jersey at 15 while Isaac Boss has been handed the number nine ahead of young Conor Murray.

Paddy Wallace has been picked at ten which is once again a demonstration of Kidney’s desire to take the Ulsterman to New Zealand as someone who can play out-half or inside-centre in an emergency while Fergus McFadden starts on the wing.

Much to ponder then.

“People can read into it what they want,” said Kidney. “That’s the fun of the World Cup. Everyone has an opinion and everyone reads different things into it. I’m looking forward to seeing how they play and we’ll finalise things afterwards.”