Upbeat Kidney dwells on positives

If Declan Kidney was hoping his Irish Wolfhounds would upset the established order ahead of his RBS 6 Nations squad announcement today, he will have left Exeter on Saturday night slightly disappointed.

He will unveil his 30-man squad for the opening two championship games and the short turnaround between the Wales and France games prompted the Irish management to gather a 24-player group in Limerick last week for an initial training camp.

Having witnessed a less-than-fluent outing from the Wolfhounds at Sandy Park in losing their A international to the England Saxons, however, yesterday’s selection process may have become clouded by further questions.

There were positives from the Eric Elwood and Anthony Foley-coached side, not least the back play of Leinster’s David Kearney and Eoin O’Malley, and a sprightly, try-scoring cameo from Tomás O’Leary. There was also a mighty back-row effort from captain Chris Henry, John Muldoon and Rhys Ruddock.

But the Irish were undone by a powerful Saxons scrum powered by props Matt Mullan and Paul Doran-Jones, an equally strong driving maul and some poor kicking and decision-making.

The English capitalised with tries from Ben Spencer and Thomas Waldrom and 13 points from the boot of young fly-half Freddie Burns but the Ireland coach was publicly very much in glass half-full mode.

“It was very useful when you see guys who have been playing for their provinces for three months and are thrown into international rugby,” he said. “There were some good individual performances, some of the units went well and we will take a look at the positives out of it.

“In terms of the future there are a few young guys there like young [Stephen] Archer who got 80 minutes under his belt that will stand to him.”

As for who will get promotion to the Six Nations squad, Kidney hinted the emphasis will be on fresh legs.

“Some of it is position specific. I had 23, 24 guys pencilled in anyway and I now know the options. It’s a bit like getting a little bit of a pecking order and also if you look at the game-time some of the lads have had, the likes of Gavin Duffy and John Muldoon, have had an awful lot of pitch time so it is probably more prudent to give those guys a bit of a rest over the next week with a view towards recharging the batteries and coming in maybe at a later date and then we will give some of the other guys a go.”

The Wolfhounds were unfortunate to have been on the wrong end of questionable decisions from French official Cedric Marchant, who allowed England’s opening try from scrum-half Ben Spencer when Isaac Boss was taken out by George Robson.

But the Saxons deserved their win.

Amidst the Irish chances that went begging there were high spots and plus points though. Kearney and Munster’s hat-trick hero of the previous week Simon Zebo showed spark on the wings, though the latter left a try out there when he was stopped short by Matt Banahan with an inside pass on. And that is regardless of the questionable legality of Banahan’s try-saving tackle.

Both wings did get on the scoresheet, though. Zebo’s try came at the death and Kearney the score of the night midway through the first half.

Ruddock had taken the Irish into the Saxons’ 22 with another strong carry. Fly-half Ian Keatley went wide, O’Malley sucked in opposite number Matt Hooper before a clever inside pass was met by Kearney who sprinted over the line. It was a good creative piece of backline play and both O’Malley and Kearney did their chances of selection no harm at all.

“We had a lot of young kids out there but the likes of Tomás O’Leary when he came on and young Rhys Ruddock, did very well,” said Elwood. “The lads need to learn that when you put on a green jersey there is an opportunity to put their hands up.”

Scorers for England: Tries: Spencer, Waldrom. Cons: Burns (two). Pens: Burns (three)

Scorers for Ireland: Tries: Kearney, O’Leary, Zebo. Con: Madigan.

ENGLAND SAXONS: D Armitage; U Monye, M Hopper, B Twelvetrees, M Banahan; F Burns, B Spencer; M Mullan, J Gray, P Doran-Jones; M Garvey, G Robson; J Gaskell (capt), A Saull, T Waldrom. Replacements: K Myall for Garvey (46), J May for Banahan (59), C Brooker for J Gray (59), P Hodgson for Spencer (65), T Johnson for Saull (69).

WOLFHOUNDS: G Duffy; D Kearney, E O’Malley, N Spence, S Zebo; I Keatley, I Boss; B Wilkinson, D Varley, S Archer; D Tuohy, M McCarthy; J Muldoon, C Henry (capt), R Ruddock. Replacements: I Madigan for Keatley (51), T O’Leary for Boss (51), D Hurley for Duffy (54), R Loughney for Wilkinson (59), D Toner for McCarthy (61), M Sherry for D Varley (65), K McLaughlin for J Muldoon (65)

Referee: Cedric Marchat (France).