Front row up for grabs

It was only 18 months ago that Declan Kidney stood in the bowels of Twickenham and bemoaned the alarming dearth of quality tighthead props in Ireland.

The then Irish national coach had just witnessed his only genuine Test-standard tighthead Mike Ross depart the field with a neck injury, forcing him to send on unfortunate replacement Tom Court, the Ulster loosehead, who was then taken to the cleaners by the English front row.

Fortunately for Ireland, Test team replacements now number both loosehead and tighthead props but Kidney’s angst stemmed in the lack of game time his young potential Test tightheads were getting with their provinces.