Brave call by manager but not the right one

In parachuting Paddy Jackson into the Ireland number 10 jersey for this Sunday’s RBS 6 Nations clash against Scotland, Declan Kidney has made the biggest call of his tenure as the national team head coach.

Breaking with his own conservatism when it comes to selection, Kidney yesterday turned his back on veteran fly-half Ronan O’Gara as his go-to guy in the absence of the injured Jonny Sexton and will place not only Ireland’s championship title hopes but also his ambitions to lead the team beyond this summer on the undoubtedly talented but untested shoulders of 21-year-old debutant Jackson.

If the plan works, and Ireland supporters will hope that it does, then their side will remain in the hunt for a first title since Kidney led them to the Grand Slam in his first Six Nations campaign in 2009 and the head coach will be step nearer to the new contract he desires that will place him in charge through to the 2015 World Cup.

And if Jackson goes well at Murrayfield, then Kidney will have two more years to work with a settled pair of fly-halves in Sexton and his new back-up and long-term successor. That will also mean the end of the road for O’Gara, whose bench-warming role will surely not extend beyond this campaign, and maybe sooner if Sexton recovers from his hamstring tear in time to face France and Italy in the final two games.

That, however, represents a lot of ‘ifs.’ O’Gara’s best days may be behind him and he has not been playing at the top of his game of late but he has rarely stayed in a slump for long and against a Scotland team newly buoyant after beating Italy last time out, the Munster veteran still represented the safest pair of hands Kidney could have called on when it comes to managing such a must-win game.

Kidney must now hope Jackson repays the faith shown in him by getting his Test career off to flying start this weekend. In a championship that represents another step up again from the Heineken Cup level the Ulster youngster has been operating at thus far in his fledgling career, and when a formidable Scottish back row will come flying at him at Murrayfield, that will be no easy task.

O’Gara was not the only Munster player leapfrogged by an Ulster man in yesterday’s team announcement as Kidney used the reverse of his logic employed for the fly-half position to overlook the claims of David Kilcoyne at loosehead prop in favour of Tom Court.

To be fair to Kidney, Court is as bang in form for Ulster as Kilcoyne has been this season for his province. Yet “Killer” has also been impressive off the bench for Ireland in each of his four appearances since a Test debut against South Africa in November and when first-choice loosehead Cian Healy paid the price for a rash stamp on England’s Dan Cole at the Aviva Stadium, it was Kilcoyne who should have been entrusted to fill the breach in the front row.

Instead, Court, who has not featured in a squad since the final game of last season’s Six Nations 11 months ago, was also parachuted in at the expense of the incumbent back-up in the squad.

Puzzling, to say the least.

Kidney began this Six Nations campaign by making a big call when he decided to bring the illustrious captaincy of Brian O’Driscoll to an end by extending Jamie Heaslip’s leadership role beyond the temporary status he enjoyed last November in the great centre’s absence through injury.

That was a brave move, applauded on these pages by this correspondent. Selecting Jackson for a debut in a key position part-way through the same campaign is another brave call yet it defies Kidney’s previous logic of not changing things midstream.

He may be rewarded for such a change of form but almost certainly further down the line. For now, on the eve of a must-win championship game, it makes altogether less sense.