Kidney working to address age-old dilemma

JOHNNY WATTERSONlistens as Declan Kidney outlines why he is not too concerned in the short term about the rising age profile of his squad

A REWORKING of the old Dunphy soundbite was one of the central themes to the pre-season conference with Irish coaches Declan Kidney and Les Kiss. “We’re not a great team, we’re a good team,” they agreed.

Kidney has always been more a man of quiet confidence than brash boasts but what would it take one day to maybe hear, “we are a great team, not a good team”.

On that Kidney is working hard and as he looks towards the team’s first international of the season against Australia in November, and to the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand, Ireland are keeping it real.

Scrumhalf Tomás O’Leary, has had no contact work yet. He will see the surgeon at the end of the month. Jerry Flannery tweaked a calf muscle to push back his recovery time while Rory Best is gone for the season. Other than that reading of the injury ledger, Kidney was asked to face the prospect of a World Cup in two years’ time with a rising team age profile. In that the coach was not so much defensive as logical.

“When I went back to Munster four years ago, I was probably told they were getting old,” said the coach.

“Some day they will finish but not yet. Let’s just treat each one as it comes up. What I say to the players is we’ll play each match for Ireland and see what we do. At the same time you’d be silly not to be thinking ahead. If it wasn’t age then it might be a bang or a knock that takes them out. That was the fun of going to America for the Churchill Cup. We were able to see a lot of younger guys there.”

The senior team senior players are John Hayes (35), Malcolm O’Kelly, Alan Quinlan (35), Girvan Dempsey (33) and Bernard Jackman (33). Underneath that strata Brian O’Driscoll, Ronan O’Gara, Gordon D’Arcy and a resurgent Shane Horgan will be sweeping into their early 30s come 2011. But Kidney sees age purely as a number and there has been a softly, softly approach towards covering every position.

“I tend not to look on it as an age thing but as a bang or a knock or a flu that takes some guy out, that we have someone to step in for him for whatever reason,” says Kidney.

“Let the lads play for as long as they can do. The one thing I do remember is that as you get to the end you enjoy it more. Then it all depends on how they look after their bodies.

“They’re only 10 years in professionalism and they have a chance to look after themselves. Some of them have looked after themselves very well. That’s the reason John (Hayes) is playing. Teddy Sheringham was playing Premiership soccer until he was 40 . . . no not in the frontrow. These older players will call time on their own career. We’ll work with them as long as their focus is there and at the same time we’ll have someone to nudge them and if they have to step out for whatever reason then we have fellas to take their places.”

There were 23 players directly involved in playing in last season’s Six Nations Championship. There were another five players that travelled with Ireland to matches. That brought the total number of players that are in and around the team to 28. During the summer Ireland brought on another nine, generally younger players, who took part in the Churchill Cup while the Lions tour was taking place.

“When we went to the Churchill Cup we wanted to see these fellas coming through,” says Kidney.

“In our own minds we’d have 60-odd players that we’ve earmarked. We feel we would know the best three or four guys in each position. Form will fluctuate and they will develop at different paces. They have to fight their corners in the shop window of the provinces.”

As ever with Kidney he looks for shrewd answers rather than radical surgery. While he plots to win against Australia, he is almost offended when accused of not seriously addressing the future and planning. From the outside, the removal of Hayes, O’Gara and O’Driscoll would leave gaping holes. Is Ireland planning for such eventualities.

“We’re doing that,” says Kidney. “It would be wrong of me to say we are not doing that. But I wouldn’t rule any of them out. Maybe that’s overly optimistic of me. You have to be like that in this game sometimes. We have planned that. But I wouldn’t be great for shouting out what we are doing.”

For now the promise is enough. Coming off a Grand Slam year and another Heineken Cup, it seems churlish to dwell on potential problems. But that’s Kidney’s job, perhaps too the reason why a “good” team achieved a “great” season.