Kidney given opportunity to look at fringe players

IRELAND TOUR TO NORTH AMERICA:DECLAN KIDNEY'S ability to pull an Irish team together from a disparate group of players may soon be tested. The Grand Slam-winning Irish coach could have up to 20 front-line international players unavailable to him when Ireland travel to Vancouver and California at the end of next month for this year's two-match summer tour.

Kidney, who attended a meeting yesterday in Dublin to discuss what international players would or wouldn’t be at his disposal, will be missing all of those players selected for the Lions tour to South Africa as well as those current Irish players involved in the Heineken Cup final in Murrayfield on May 23rd. Leinster or Munster will be playing in the final.

If Munster beat Leinster in Saturday week’s European semi-final in Croke Park, Kidney will be without the 14 Irish Lions plus Grand Slam winners John Hayes, Marcus Horan, Peter Stringer, Mick O’Driscoll and Denis Leamy, who will all be involved with the province in defence of their European crown.

If Leinster get to the European final, Kidney will be without the South African tourists and centre, Gordon D’Arcy, who was the only Grand Slam winner from Leinster, who was not selected by Lions coach Ian McGeechan. The others, Jamie Heaslip, Rob Kearney, Luke Fitzgerald and Brian O’Driscoll, were all included in McGeechan’s 37-man squad.

If Leicester win their European semi-final against Cardiff Blues on Sunday week, then Geordan Murphy, who came on at the end of Ireland’s Grand Slam decider against Wales in the Millenium Stadium, will also be unavailable to travel to North America.

To compound matters further the Irish under-20 team are involved in the IRB World Cup in Japan, which begins for Ireland on June 5th against Argentina, so Kidney is also unable to dip into the younger pool of Irish talent coming through.

Ireland play their first tour match on May 23rd against Canada in Thunderbird Stadium, Vancouver, which is the same day as the Heineken Cup final. They then face former Irish coach Eddie O’Sullivan’s USA in Santa Clara, California, the following week at Buck Shaw Stadium in a match that, given the history, Kidney would very much like to win.

The Lions convene in Pennyhill Park and Spa just outside London in the week of the Heineken Cup final although those players involved at Murrayfield will remain with their teams. The first Lions tour match takes place on May 30th against Highveld in Royal Bafokeng.

Players such as Ian Dowling, Barry Murphy, Tony Buckley and Donnacha Ryan may also be taken out of the reckoning if Munster prevail in the semi-final, while Leinster flanker, Shane Jennings and veteran secondrows, Malcolm O’Kelly and captain Leo Cullen, will remain in Dublin if Leinster manage a surprise win. In that scenario Shane Horgan and Girvan Dempsey would also be sticking around for the Edinburgh final.

Either way Kidney looks likely to be dipping into a significant rump of fringe players, although, seasoned performers such as out-half Paddy Wallace, Australian-born prop Tom Court, hooker Rory Best, utility back Andrew Trimble, backrows Roger Wilson and Neil Best and secondrow Bob Casey should all be available. Wasps scrumhalf Eoin Reddan may also enter the picture and possibly too younger players such as Ulster’s Darren Cave, Connacht’s Ian Keatley, Munster’s Donnacha Ryan and Niall Ronan and Leinster’s Jonny Sexton, Seán O’Brien and Cian Healy.

“Yes, we were aware of the dates as soon as we sat down to work it out back in January,” said an Irish team official. “We knew the dates of the Heineken Cup final and knew there was a chance that an Irish team might be involved.

“We were also aware, obviously, that the Lions tour would also involve some Irish players but from the team point of view it was a prime opportunity for us to look at other players during the summer.”

The squads for the senior tour and the Churchill Cup, which involves the Irish ‘A’ side, will be named on Tuesday May 5th.

The combination of the Lions tour and the Heineken Cup final looks set remove up to 20 front-line internationals from Declan Kidney’s selection options for the tour to Canada and the US.

Definitely out (due to Lions involvement): Rob Kearney, Luke Fitzgerald, Tommy Bowe, Brian O’Driscoll, Keith Earls, Ronan O’Gara, Tomas O’Leary, Jamie Heaslip, David Wallace, Stephen Ferris, Alan Quinlan, Paul O’Connell, Donncha O’Callaghan, Jerry Flannery.

Out (if Munster make the European final): John Hayes, Marcus Horan, Peter Stringer, Denis Leamy, Mick O’Driscoll.

Out (if Leinster make the European final): Gordon D’Arcy.

Out (if Leicester make the European final): Geordan Murphy.