O’Connell’s autumn hopes fading fast

Declan Kidney’s hopes of bringing in some much-needed experience to Ireland’s ranks ahead of the must-win Test against Argentina later this month have been dealt a severe blow with the coach’s admission that Paul O’Connell is unlikely to play any part in the autumn internationals.

Ireland look set to fall behind Argentina in the IRB World Rankings released today following the 16-12 loss to South Africa in Dublin on Saturday night while the Pumas defeated Grand Slam champions Wales in Cardiff.

That will see Argentina swap places with Kidney’s men in the rankings, moving from seventh to eighth with the IRB standings issued on December 3.

Those figures will determine the seeding for the 2015 Rugby World Cup pool draw, which will take place later that day in London.

With a good month of results, Scotland, in ninth, could threaten Ireland’s place in the top eight, which guarantees a second seeding in the World Cup pools. All of which makes the November 24th Test with the Pumas of vital importance, and already denied the talents of Brian O’Driscoll, Rory Best, Stephen Ferris, Sean O’Brien and Rob Kearney, the news that O’Connell could miss out too is a major headache for Kidney.

Asked if O’Connell, ruled out of the South Africa game due to a back injury which flared up again following training last Tuesday, would recover in time to face Argentina, Kidney replied: “No, I think that would be extremely doubtful. That’s the first up report from the medics, but what I’d like to do is get a full report but I don’t see him coming back for Argentina.”

Before then, Ireland face Fiji in a non-Test match at Thomond Park on Saturday and defeat to the Springboks means Kidney must decide whether to rotate his entire squad this weekend or give the majority of the starting XV from Saturday another chance to bed in their combinations, risking further injury and fatigue in what promises to be a bruising and physical encounter against the Fijians.

“It’ll be a World Cup qualifier (against Argentina) in lots of ways but that’s why the next week to 10 days will be so important. We need to prepare and to get the right balance between combinations and giving guys a run and freshening it up,” Kidney said. “That’s the job for the next 10 days.”

As to the question of keeping combinations together for three weekends in a row, Kidney added: “I think that’s going to be the call. That’s definitely an argument but then you have to take a look at the players and know how much Test-level experience they have under their belt. If they have three games on the trot, what will we have in the tank in the second half against Argentina?

“So they’re the calls I’ve been entrusted to make but I’ll have to take a good look at how much international experience fellas have under their belt. You see a fella like Mike McCarthy come in today and get man of the match, that’s an amount of adrenaline he’ll have used up and that will only come out in the next day or two. You need to take a look at what combinations need another run next week too.”