Ireland’s quality to shine through

Declan Kidney proved once again this week that he isn’t as predictable and conservative as he is often typecast in the media.

He could have promoted Ronan O’Gara, Fergus McFadden and Dave Kilcoyne for Jonathan Sexton, Gordon D’Arcy and Cian Healy, with Keith Earls filling in for Simon Zebo. But instead he gave Paddy Jackson, Luke Marshall and Tom Court the nod.

The decision to start Court was apparently made because Kilcoyne is seen as a dynamic impact player by the Irish management while Court has been in excellent form since moving exclusively to loose head and will pressurise Scotland’s Geoff Cross for the first 50-55 minutes before the Munster man is introduced.