Kidney has strong hand for a kind of homecoming

THE IRELAND team to play South Africa in the Aviva Stadium on Saturday in the first Test of the season and the first international at the revamped Lansdowne Road falls along fairly predictable lines and, while far from the optimum strength of this stage a year ago, it looks a good deal more experienced than last June.

Compared to the injury-ravaged team Declan Kidney sent out in the summer finale against Australia – when 15 players who had appeared for Ireland during the course of the season were ruled out for one reason or another – there are seven changes to the starting line-up which lost 22-15 in Brisbane.

Up front, Rory Best returns at hooker, as do the tried and trusted loose forward trio of Stephen Ferris, David Wallace and Jamie Heaslip. Behind them, Eoin Reddan comes in for the injured Tomás O’Leary, while Gordon D’Arcy (winning his 50th cap) and Luke Fitzgerald return to the backline. In the latter instance, Fitzgerald wins the nod on the left wing ahead of Andrew Trimble and Keith Earls, who are vying with Paddy Wallace for the last place on the bench.

If Earls is chosen it would mean 10 changes from the match-day squad compared to Brisbane, with Donnacha Ryan, Denis Leamy and Peter Stringer also returning to the mix among the replacements.

There is the anticipated changing of the guard at tight-head, where Tony Buckley starts his first frontline Test at home after usurping John Hayes on the summer tour and for Munster this season, whereas experience helped Best, Mick O’Driscoll and Wallace win other tight calls ahead of Seán Cronin, Ryan and Seán O’Brien.

“You always want to have the best headaches possible as regards picking the side,” said Kidney. “There’s a lot of good players not in the squad, but I hadn’t seen it like that, I had seen it as more of a reflection of how guys have been playing over the last couple of weeks, because you have to deal with it in the here and now.”

Ireland will be particularly relieved that Brian O’Driscoll has recovered from the strained hamstring he sustained three weeks ago against Racing Metro to lead his country for the 67th time.

After coming through a full session yesterday, O’Driscoll admitted the players were aware of the controversy over tickets, with Ireland’s return to Lansdowne Road for the first time since beating the Pacific Islands in November 2006 unlikely to have a capacity attendance.

“People read papers and are aware of what’s going on, but as Declan alluded to, that’s for the union to deal with, that’s not a player issue. We want, as a team, to be playing in front of as many people as we possibly can. We want to be supported by packed houses because that’s what you get your buzz from. The best occasions are at capacity stadiums and when the crowd are at their most vocal. They can be worth a score to you at vital times.”

Full house or not, Kidney did the best job yet of this hardest of hard sells. “It will be physical, as it always is against South Africa. Both sides want to win. When it gets to international level it’s like a final, because both sides want to get a win under their belt. So the physicality will be huge, obviously it means a huge amount to us to be back. Just coming up Lansdowne Road here to the Aviva Stadium was special, and we shouldn’t lose sight of that. I wouldn’t like to underlie anything that’s gone on over the last couple of months but this is like coming home, and to be part of that is hugely special. It’s the oldest international ground in the world, and that’s a huge sentence just to be able to say that. Just to be a part of that for all of us is a really special occasion.”