Kidney rallies Ireland charges as ranking comes into play at Twickenham

Ireland head coach Declan Kidney has urged his players to end their RBS 6 Nations campaign on a high with a victory over England at Twickenham today.

The main event in terms of the championship may be in Cardiff this afternoon, when Wales play France seeking to win the Grand Slam, but Kidney insisted there was plenty on the line for both sides in London with a summer tour to New Zealand looming and vital world rankings points up for grabs ahead of this November’s pool draw for the 2015 World Cup.

A victory over England today could see Ireland jump to fifth place from seventh while a defeat might see them fall to eighth and give the English a chance to hang onto fourth spot, a position which would mean the World Cup’s next hosts would avoid the south hemisphere big guns in the top three positions.

“It’s coming more and more to the fore in everybody’s minds I think and we’re fully aware of it,” Kidney said. “But that’s a knock-on consequence of performing well. If we perform well that gives a chance of getting a result and if we get a result that will help with rankings.

“With the next tournament being in England, I’m sure England will be very keen to hang onto fourth and by the time kick off comes at five o’clock they could be playing for the championship on points difference, depending what happens in Cardiff.

“So they have a huge amount to play for but I’d like to think we’ve a lot to play for as well. We wouldn’t be wanting to let one or two small patches during the Six Nations define it, we just need to finish with a good purpose.”

Captain Rory Best, who will become Ireland’s most capped hooker on his 59th appearance today, believes his side are in good shape to meet Kidney’s wishes, despite going into their fourth Test in as many weeks.

“We’re feeling good, we’re feeling very much battle-hardened,” Best said. “The coaches and the training’s been very good, geared towards the games. Over the last couple of weeks it’s been reduced down a little bit in terms of workload and everyone’s feeling really good.

“It’s the last round of the championship so regardless of how many Tests we’ve played in a row, if you can’t get up for the last chance to play for Ireland before June you’re in the wrong sport, and coupled with England at Twickenham on St Patrick’s Day, it’s all there. But certainly, physically, I think we’re in a good place.”