Continuity pleases O’Connell
Kidney’s selection of a senior training squad, all of whom featured in last autumn’s run to the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals, received criticism in many quarters last week for being overly conservative.
Yet with three of the six teams going into the RBS 6 Nations with new head coaches and the attendant turnover of playing personnel, O’Connell said he believed continuity would hold Ireland in good stead.
“It is important,” O’Connell said at yesterday’s RBS 6 Nations launch in London. “When new staff come in it gives a team a lift and obviously we won the Grand Slam in Declan and the lads’ first year.
“It’s hard to say but for us we’re certainly in a good position; we’ve a few injuries but by and large a lot of the guys that have been playing well for the provinces are available and are going to be playing in the next few weeks.
“We know each other very well. We know the staff. We know what they want from us as well: a few little changes as you always have to do. You always have to evolve and make a few tweaks. There is no doubt that kind of settled atmosphere we have will be good for us, and I think the way the provinces have been going and the hunger guys are showing when they play is a good thing as well and should be brought into the Six Nations.”
Ireland kick off their campaign by hosting their World Cup quarter-final conquerors Wales at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday, February 5, and O’Connell highlighted the importance of gaining early momentum to making the championship a successful one.
“Well it’s great to be starting at home and momentum does play a massive part in the competition,” he said. “If you get a big result early on it does put you in a great position. So if we can get a good result against Wales in that first game, it would put us in a great position.
“It then gets tough again, we go away to France and the games certainly don’t get any easier. So it would be great to get off to a winning start against Wales, that would really give us a massive lift.”
Ireland finished last year’s championship with the outstanding performance of the competition when they derailed England’s hopes of a Grand Slam in Dublin but a nervy win in Italy started a campaign riddled with inconsistency and the Munster second row said putting that right is a top priority.
“Certainly that’s the goal. Last year we played in fits and starts. I think we played some great rugby at times in the games before that England game. The England game was probably the only game we really put it together for 80 minutes.
“And that’s the challenge. I think we have great players, there is no doubt we are going to play great rugby but we have to do it consistently and we’ve got to do it for 80 minutes. That’s the challenge for us. That’s the big thing for us, to play at the level we can play at, to play at our potential throughout the tournament.”
O’Connell assumes the Irish captaincy from the injured Brian O’Driscoll and he acknowledged the outside centre would be a significant loss to his side.
“It’s a big gap. He’s been captain for the last nine years and it will be strange not having him on the pitch or around the dressing room or the team environment.
“It’s going to be a big change for a lot of us that have really probably been used to piggy-backing on so much of his good work.
“I do think experience-wise we are in a good position to cope with it. The success of the provinces in recent years with Munster and Leinster, the success of the provinces this year and the success of Ireland in the past [means] there is a lot more experience there than there used to be.
“There is a lot of leadership in the side. The way Brian used to do things, there was always five or six guys always being consulted and helping out with running the team. That will continue and I just think there is a lot of experience to cope with it. Not many teams can cope with losing someone of his experience and his ability as a player but I think we’re not in too bad a position to deal with it.”
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