DECLAN KIDNEY HAS once again named an unchanged starting line up to face France this Sunday.
Despite some minor injury scares the coach is able to keep faith with the team which started the 42-10 victory over Italy at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
It is also the same line up which Ireland had intended to start in the original fixture on 11 February.
That game was called off at the very last minute due to a frozen pitch which owed to the Stade de France’s lack of under-soil heating and a 9pm kick off time to maximise television viewing figures.
Despite calls from many quarters to make changes, Kidney has once again underlined his confidence in the under fire members of the team; Donncha O’Callaghan, Gordon D’Arcy Conor Murray, Sean O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip.
The former Munster coach was keen to stress that an unchanged line up does not mean a drop off in intensity:
“I never think of it as picking the same team again,” said Kidney, “it’s not that simple. You never go in and say ‘okay we were grand let’s go with the same team again’.”
“It might look on announcement day like the same team but believe me a fair bit of time goes into analysing and dissecting how each bit went and weighing up then the merits of having that 80 minutes under your belt and how far forward you’ll be as a result of a bit of continuity.”
The coach acknowledged the impact from the bench of Peter O’Mahony, Eoin Reddan and Donncha Ryan but gave equal credit for the result to those who had started and laid the groundwork.
Unseen work
“I think the lads that came on did exceptionally well, you know. They all came on and made a hugely positive impact but I had to weigh that up by the work that was done by the lads in the first 50, 60, 70 minutes – they had done a lot of what you would call a lot of unattractive unseen work in breaking down Italy.”
“When the lads came on (from the bench) they were fresh and with their skill levels and everything they were able to exploit the damage that was done early on.”
“When they do come on and play that well you have to give credence to that as well. Would we be better off starting with them? I understand it would be a good topic for debate, but I just felt on the balance of things it was just right to go with the way we’ve gone.”
This is the fourth time this year that Kidney has named this starting line-up.
Against Wales on the opening weekend of the Six Nations Keith Earls was forced to withdraw to be with his newborn daughter. Fergus McFadden started that day, but was replaced again by Earls for the pointless trip to Paris.
Ireland (v France): R Kearney; T Bowe, K Earls, G D’Arcy, A Trimble; J Sexton, C Murray: C Healy, R Best, M Ross; D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell; S Ferris, S O’Brien, J Heaslip.
Replacements: T Court, S Cronin, D Ryan, P O’Mahony, E Reddan, R O’Gara, F McFadden.
