Jackman: Ireland need first-choice outhalf

Former Irish and Leinster hooker Bernard Jackman believes the lack of clear first choice fly-half is a contributing factor to the Irish squad’s poor performances of late.

Writing in his BetPack.com blog, the Tullow man suggested Declan Kidney stick with either Jonathan Sexton or Ronan O’Gara to add certainty to the team and boost the confidence of the chosen outhalf.

“We have found ourselves in a situation where we don’t know our first choice hooker, scrum half, outhalf or fullback yet.

“The most important position in any team is the outhalf and in Jonathan Sexton and Ronan O’Gara we have two world-class players.

“Both however are Alpha Males and are used to calling the shots for their provinces and the uncertainty is affecting Sexton’s game and the team’s play.

“Ronan O’Gara wrote in his autobiography of an argument he had with Eddie O’Sullivan after an Ireland Match where David Humphreys replaced him with 20 minutes to go saying that if the coach didn’t trust his ability to finish the game then he would find it hard to believe he had the coach’s confidence and backing.

“I think that the time has come for Declan to back one horse and stick with him for the next few games.

“All the tournament favourites have a clear number one at outhalf.

After an unconvincing victory over the USA Jackman believes Ireland need to bring a fresh impetus to their attack which has become too easy for the opposition to read and expresses concern at the team’s struggle to find form.

“The team and management urged us to believe that the performances we witnessed in August were only curtain raisers for the tournament proper and “it would be all right on the night” once the real competition started.

“Unfortunately it’s very rare in top class sport and for sportspeople to be able to flick on and off a switch when they want to hit peak performance, which is why a run of good form and excellent training methods and habits are so sought after going into a big event.

“We have looked very predictable in our attacking formation and for even teams as limited as the USA it’s meat and drink to any side that is prepared to front up and make head on tackles.

“We don’t have the physical power of the South Africans or the Islander sides and we need to use our imagination and innate footballing ability to create and take try-scoring opportunities.

“Even with a scrum and lineout maul that had our opponent under immense pressure we made bad decisions in our opponents 22 time and time again and left without keeping the scoreboard ticking over."