Kidney takes positives from Wolfhounds' defeat

Ireland head coach Declan Kidney said that he was encouraged by what he saw from the Ireland Wolfhounds’ performance against the England Saxons on Saturday despite the 23-17 scoreline in favour of the Saxons.

Tries from Dave Kearney, Tomás O’Leary and a late touchdown from Simon Zebo weren’t enough for the Wolfhounds, with the boot of Freddie Burns inspiring the Saxons to victory.

Kidney believes the experience of playing in an Irish jersey will help develop some of the younger players in the squad.

“It was very useful when you see guys who have been playing for their provinces for (only) three months and are thrown into international rugby,” Kidney told the Irish Independent.

“It is always a different atmosphere and a different environment and it was very helpful to see how guys cope with it.

"There were some good individual performances, some of the units went well and we will take a look at the positives out of it."

The Wolfhounds team showed no lack of experimentation with Isaac Boss linking with Ian Keatley at half-back and Eoin O’Malley playing alongside Nevin Spence in midfield while the pack boasted three representatives from Connacht, two from Munster and Ulster and one from Leinster.

While Saturday’s game may have proved interesting viewing for Kidney, it remains to be seen if it has any impact on his 30-man squad selection for the opening two games of the Six Nations.

"Some of it is position-specific. I had 23-24 guys pencilled in anyway and I now know the options, maybe it's a bit like getting a little bit of a pecking-order in place.”