RUGBY:NO NEWS is good news, and certainly healthy news. The last time Ireland announced an unchanged side for three games in a row Tommy Kiernan was coach, Garrett Fitzgerald was starting his second stint as Taoiseach in a Coalition Government and, ironically, another Indian movie, Gandhi, would be flavour of the month that April, with 11 nominations and 8 Oscars, including best picture, best actor and best director. Most fittingly of all, Men At Work were top of the UK Album charts with Business As Usual.
The year was 1983 and Ireland, incredibly, went through the entire Five Nations with an unchanged team of Hugo MacNeill, Trevor Ringland, David Irwin, Michael Kiernan, Moss Finn, Ollie Campbell, Robbie McGrath, Phil Orr, Ciarán Fitzgerald, Gerry McLoughlin, Donal Lenihan, Moss Keane, Fergus Slattery, John O’Driscoll and Willie Duggan.
Having beaten Scotland 15-13 in Murrayfield and France 22-16 in Lansdowne Road, Ireland lost 23-9 to Wales in Cardiff before beating England 25-15 at home to earn a share of the championship with France.
In the subsequent 27 years, no doubt the intervening eight Irish coaches would love to have named an unchanged side for three games in succession and more often than not injuries would have prevented them from doing so. So, above all else, it is commentary on Ireland’s rude state of health as much as form.
Declan Kidney tried to maintain that the Irish Brains Trust went through the team with painstaking deliberation, and no doubt they did. While perceived wisdom has it that the Irish coach would be reluctant to make changes, as he showed with Munster last season and many times before, that is not necessarily the case. As one of his former charges said in idle conversation this week: “He can be as ruthless as any coach, as I know.”
With the dynamic off a vastly experienced bench working well in the wins over France and Italy, there are no compelling reason to make changes.
The one exception sees Mick ODriscoll being promoted to the bench for the suddenly out-of-favour Malcolm O’Kelly. Hence, John Hayes will equal the lock’s Irish record of 92 caps as well as surpassing Fabien Pelous’ Six Nations landmark with the Irish prop’s 47th championship start in a row, prompting Kidney and Brian O’Driscoll to laud The Bull’s “professionalism” yesterday.
“Mick O’Driscoll was going very well before his shoulder injury and again last week. I thought he deserved it,” said Kidney, without shedding light on O’Kelly’s sharp fall, but intimated it need not be a permanent omission.
The Irish coach has stressed the need to generate a squad culture, and make players feel involved, yet admitted that picking the same side for three games in a row makes that more difficult.
“I find that the international scene is very different from the provincial one, where you have 20 games a year and you can chop and change a little. The window is so short. That is why the A games are vitally important.
“In terms of developing a panel, a bit of that is done behind the scenes in training. We have brought in players like Devin Toner and Fergus McFadden. That’s not seen but it builds up pressure on the senior guys. They see that so when we talk about competition for places it’s not just lip service.
“There have been a few good wins by the provinces in the Magners League over the weekend. That all builds pressure and if players are worrying about their place, it spurs you on to be better.”
Musing aloud as to “the dilemmas of selection” and “who to leave out”, Kidney admitted: “Maybe if we did make changes the team could be that little bit stronger.
“There is a balance you have to find between whether you stay with the guys who have done well or go with some freshness.”
England have engaged in a pre-match phoney war to ensure a fairer crack of the whip from referee Craig Joubert than was the case with Jonathan Kaplan in their defeat to Wales, but unsurprisingly Kidney wasn’t taking the bait.
Reminding us that his father was a member of the Munster Referees’ Association, Kidney said: “The referee has a tough job, especially in a tough game like rugby, where the angle of your view of a situation can influence your decision. I wouldn’t have any comment to make.”
Kidney admitted that the presence of former Irish defensive coach Mike Ford in England’s ranks, not to mention “the huge respect” which he and the Irish camp had for Martin Johnson, was a source of concern.
Pilloried in victory over Italy, comparatively lauded in defeat to Wales, England’s latter performance had been a warning to Ireland according to Brian O’Driscoll. “Having watched the game again, I certainly felt England were unfortunate at times. In fairness to Wales they played great stuff, as did England. They really put Wales under the pump, had they scored that breakaway try it could have been different. That shows the close margins and how tight things can change matches.”
