ON RUGBY:Declan Kidney's twin ambitions of Ireland doing well in the domestic tournament and in New Zealand in September can be mutually beneficial rather than exclusive

THERE’S A school of thought that Declan Kidney and his fellow coaches should use the forthcoming RBS Six Nations as a further building block toward the World Cup, presumably by rotating the squad so as to develop it further. One imagines he and his coaches don’t share that view, and nor would his leading players, and perhaps even his employers at that. Not for a second.

It became evident during the last throes of Eddie O’Sullivan’s reign that his job spec from the IRFU was very much to concentrate on the next game, especially with the Six Nations in mind. That would have suited him just dandy and, one also imagines, the union haven’t since completed a volte face.

Of course, it would be wonderful if Ireland broke new territory and reached at least the semi-finals of the World Cup for the first time, or at least emulated the fairly dismal return of just one quarter-final in the last three attempts.

But the two ambitions can be mutually beneficial rather than exclusive.

Imagine Ireland travelling to New Zealand in September on the back of a second Grand Slam or even as champions of Europe, something they’ve done just once since 1985? Tellingly, England put repeated past failures behind them by winning the Grand Slam in 2003 en route to conquering the globe in Australia later that year.

In addition to the last two summers, two previous Six Nations campaigns and three November series, this Six Nations will act as a building block toward the World Cup in its own right. Injuries will invariably oblige some reshuffling (take this week as an example) and if they don’t then Kidney has shown a willingness to change a winning team. On top of which, there’s four more warm-up games to come in August.

There’s a misconception out there that Kidney is an innately conservative selector who, a la O’Sullivan, has failed to develop a squad. The statistics don’t back this up. Despite missing 12 Test players through injury this week, there is only one uncapped player in the squad of 26 that is still standing.

Those dozen absentees also oblige Kidney and co to delve into their reserves as much as is necessary when announcing their side to play Italy today.

Five of those hors de combat are in the back three, including four Lions with over 200 Test caps and 60-plus tries between them. This means two players are going to have to make their first Six Nations starts at 15 and 14.

Here Kidney and co could make a nod towards the World Cup. Coming on top of Girvan Dempsey’s retirement, the injuries to Rob Kearney and Geordan Murphy show the fullback cupboard to be quite bare. Gavin Duffy is the only specialist available, and had been playing some of his best rugby until recently sidelined prior to the last fortnight.

Arguably the cupboard needs to be developed further though, and either of the two talented pretenders who covet the fullback slot, Luke Fitzgerald and Keith Earls, would benefit from a run or two there. Word has it Fitzgerald was mostly running there in training yesterday.

This in turn would open the way for the in-form Fergus McFadden to make his debut on the right wing, where he replaced Shane Horgan away to Racing a fortnight ago, and Earls on the left, where he scored five tries in five starts last season.

Scrumhalf is an interesting one, and chosen from a positive of comparative strength. Unsurprisingly, Tomás O’Leary was given the Wolfhounds game as an opportunity to rediscover some form and confidence.

That he has since been restored to the squad, and Peter Stringer jettisoned, suggests O’Leary’s physicality and defending will be accommodated from the start for the likely war of attrition close in against the Azzurri, thereby taking a leaf out of the Joe Schmidt manual in picking a horses-for-courses, “away” selection at number nine.

Stringer must be a little bemused, although Kidney has assuredly spoken to his erstwhile school pupil. Uncapped throughout all of last season, afforded just 20 minutes on tour against the Maoris, he plays his best rugby and wins his place back on merit for the final leg of the autumnal series against Argentina, repeats the trick for Munster away to Toulon, is one of two scrumhalves in the original squad and is then out of the 26-man squad come match-week.

Where the injuries may be a relative blessing are in the backrow and at tighthead. Seán O’Brien’s stunning form makes the absence of Jamie Heaslip less catastrophic than would have been the case at any point in the last couple of years. His best form has also been at number eight, leaving Kidney and Gert Smal to debate the merits of the in-form Shane Jennings or the less experienced Rhys Ruddock – more of an investment in the future and more of a lineout option – on the bench.

Up front, Rory Best and Donncha O’Callaghan have been ahead of Seán Cronin and Leo Cullen when all are fit and well, while Tom Court has been ahead of Mike Ross in the pecking order, but if form is to decide the first-choice number three it can only be Ross. Court, besides, has been mostly playing at loosehead this season. Not playing Ross in November still looks like a missed opportunity but he is playing even better now, and augmenting his scrummaging with more carries and tackles.

But even if he made none of the latter two there would be a compelling argument for him starting in Rome. The one thing the Azzurri will bring to the party is a scrum, their primary weapon of mass destruction (and a real one as opposed to a make-believe one).

Most players other than Rocky Elsom would have been sin-binned for the way he lost his cool in Florence at the end of November, which was born out of sheer frustration with what the Azzurri scrum – anchored by the world-class Martin Castrogiovanni – did to the Wallabies that day. It almost single-handedly kept Italy in the game before a late Elsom try – ironically when the ball spewed out of an Italian scrum – gave them a flattering 32-14 win.

A stable scrum would neuter much of Italy’s game and would be as solid a building block for winning in Rome as anything else.

Ireland (Possible v Italy)

TEAM:Fitzgerald; McFadden, O'Driscoll, D'Arcy, Earls; Sexton, O'Leary; Healy, Best, Ross, O'Callaghan, O'Connell, Leamy, D Wallace, O'Brien. Replacements: Cronin, Court, Cullen, Ruddock, Reddan, O'Gara, P Wallace.