CHEERS RANG OUT at the Aviva Stadium last November when Michael Bent, twice, came off the bench to win first-up penalties at the scrum.
Those cheers were replaced with groans on Friday as Bent, recruited by Leinster from Taranaki, was repeatedly penalised for collapsing the scrum against England Saxons.
The New Zealander, now capped twice for Ireland, paid for his poor outing yesterday as head coach Declan Kidney dropped him from the matchday 23 for Saturday’s game against Wales.
His place has been taken by the man that replaced him for the final 10 minutes of that Wolfhounds loss in Galway, Declan Fitzpatrick.
Kidney told TheScore.ie, “We felt that, last Friday night, it was only right and proper to give Michael the first chance up but when Declan came on he showed what he can do too. That’s why we’ve gone with him.”
The coach was then asked if the performances of the two tighthead props determined their place in the squad for Wales.
“Yes,” he confirmed, “we said it was going to be an opportunity for fellas to put their hand up whether [they started or] were off the bench. Declan had a positive impact off the bench.”
Exceptional circumstances
The selection of Bent back in November, before he had played for Leinster, drew the ire of many former Ireland internationals.
Keith Wood commented, “It can’t be, it can’t be, that easy to play for Ireland as to get onto a flight and fly into the country. It can’t be. I find it wrong.”
Speaking yesterday, Kidney said, “You shouldn’t underestimate that Michael did an exceptional job for us in November when Stephen Archer wasn’t anyway near [fit]. He hasn’t played too many games this season so far and Declan was unavailable to us and Ronan Loughney had lost his place at Connacht.
“Michael came in, he was good and match-fit. He did a good job for us.
“He’s had two starts over the last two months and we felt we should give him the third start on Friday night. With Declan coming back it gave us an option we didn’t have in November.”
Fitzpatrick performed admirably on his Ireland debut against the All Blacks last June and featured off the bench in the Hamilton blow-out. A concussion ruled the 29-year-old out of the November Series.
He will provide back-up, on Saturday, to first-choice tighthead Mike Ross.
