FERGUS MCFADDEN looks set to be handed his first Ireland cap as Declan Kidney attempts to cobble together a side to face Italy in the Six Nations’ opener on Saturday afternoon.
As we highlighted yesterday, the Irish boss is missing no fewer than eight key players due to injury, a problem which has left him with some serious selection headaches.
McFadden appears to fit the billing in one of the areas which Kidney will be most concerned about, the back three. Injuries to Tommy Bowe, Andrew Trimble, Rob Kearney and Geordan Murphy have left Ireland desperately short of depth on the wings and at full-back.
It now seems certain that McFadden will be drafted in to play alongside Keith Earls on the wings, with Leinster’s Luke Fitzgerald reverting to full-back.
The other area to keep an eye out for when Kidney announces his team is the matter of who will be handed the number nine shirt. Munster scrum-half Tomas O’Leary was a late addition to the squad over the weekend, but many reckon that his bigger build might be more suited to a game against the brawny Italians than that of Leinster man Eoin Reddan.
Here at TheScore, we don’t promise to be oracles, but we reckon this will be fairly close to Kidney’s starting 15:
15. Luke Fitzgerald
14. Keith Earls
13. Brian O’Driscoll
12. Gordon D’Arcy
11. Fergus McFadden
10. Jonathan Sexton
9. Eoin Reddan
1. Cian Healy
2. Rory Best
3. Mike Ross
4. Donncha O’Callaghan
5. Paul O’Connell
6. Dennis Leamy
7. David Wallace
8. Sean O’Brien
Would you be happy if that turns out to be Declan Kidney’s starting 15? Send us your thoughts in the comments below.
Read yesterday’s post on the announcement of Ireland’s 26-man panel >
