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Irelands team for France
In recent times, the announcement of Ireland squads for various training exercises and competitions has failed to excite. Under O’Sullivan, the only real guess work involved the size of the squad. It was almost easy to predict every single player that would be in the squad, even as the old guard went into to decline and failed to perform on the park.
Sadly, this relative disinterest extended to the first squads of the new era – the interim coaching team, led by Michael Bradley, was never likely to really push the boat out or introduce the team of the future and, in the Autumn, when the order of the day was securing tier two qualification for 2011 Rugby World Cup, the time simply wasn’t right.
Sadly, Declan Kidney still feels that the time isn’t right. In his squad announcement this afternoon, Kidney said, “We want to continue to develop a panel and bringing in 39 players allows to us to work with the players on this basis.” Despite this stated desire, Darren Cave is the only player in the 39-man extended squad that hasn’t been involved with a front-line Ireland squad before. It seems that, despite tough words about developing for the future, this is yet another conservative selection by an Irish coach.
The Autumn showed that Girvan Dempsey and Alan Quinlan are already well past their sell-by date in the international arena, yet both find themselves in the squad. Malcolm O’Kelly, similarly, no longer has the legs for the international game. The merit of including these players is in the experience they bring to the table but when you consider the quality of players that have lost out from the inclusion of an old guard unlikely to feature in the 6 Nations, one must ask if that experience is really enough.
Johne Murphy, who currently sits one try off the top of the Guinness Premiership’s top try scorers’ table, isn’t even included in the ‘A’ squad. Nor is David Pollock, who has been the outstanding openside in Ireland this season. O’Kelly’s inclusion comes at the expense of the rapidly improving Devin Toner who, at the margin at least, would learn a lot more from his time spent in the squad than O’Kelly’s experience would offer to a squad that already includes Paul O’Connell and Donnacha O’Callaghan.
There are seven uncapped players in this extended squad but how many of these players are likely to remain when the squad is cropped to 30? With the likes of Earls, Fitzgerald, Kearney and Bowe available for the back three, Ian Dowling seems unlikely to make the cut despite a series of sterling, if unspectacular, performances for Munster throughout their Heineken Cup campaign. Jonny Sexton, on the other hand, should fail to make the reduced squad for entirely different reasons – the selection of a player who has played himself out of contention with Leinster this season ahead of Ian Humphreys, who has really given Ulster another dimension is almost comical. If Humphreys starts for the Ireland ‘A’ team, this move may make more sense – Humphreys and Ireland will have a lot more to gain from starting for the ‘A’ team than holding tackle bags for the main squad.
The nature of the extended squad doesn’t instil confidence that Darren Cave, the form outside centre in Ireland this season, will make the cut to the reduced squad, let alone the match-day 22. It’s with hope, more than confidence, that I name both Cave and Wallace in the match-day 22. In the forwards, Caldwell, Ross and Court may well make the cut but it’s dubious as to whether Cian Healy, despite serious improvements in his setpiece game will stay – if he does, it seems likely to be at the expense of Court or Ross, rather than Horan or Hayes.
Court and Ross are the form props in Ireland and, given the depletion of Horan’s form and the fact that Hayes has become little more than a setpiece prop, Kidney needs to make big calls when he selects his 22 to face France. In recent weeks, we’ve seen Court embarrass Hayes in the scrum in a way that no international prop has ever managed and also witnesses Ross do the same to Justin Fitzpatrick. Court’s contribution around the park in recent weeks won’t have gone under the radar, while Ross has proven himself to be more reliable at the setpiece that Hayes.
Within this 39-man squad, there is still plenty of scope for some meaningful development of options but whether Kidney will take the necessary steps is another matter entirely. When Kidney accepted the job, concerns were raised by a few about Kidney’s inexperience in building teams – he inherited a strong Munster team in 1999 that remained largely unchanged until his departure in 2002. While Kidney gave the likes of O’Connell, O’Callaghan and O’Gara their debuts, it was really under the guidance of Alan Gaffney that these players developed into the forces we recognise them to be. Kidney, again, inherited a stable team upon his return in 2005 and while his ability to turn strong, settled, teams into champions is undoubted, his ability to develop a new team in an era of transition is still questionable.
A second 6 Nations after the disastrous 2007 World Cup, without the meaningful development of the players that will take the mantle from the likes of the ever-declining Brian O’Driscoll, will mean another wasted year for Ireland. Kidney must realise that a majority of the so-called Golden Generation are either in long-term decline or already past their sell-by date.
The truth is that if Kidney puts out the same XV that he started with against New Zealand, Ireland are unlikely to have anything close to a successful 6 Nations campaign. It is a team that, especially in the Autumn, was far too predictable and it seems almost impossible to believe that the same team, with those same tactics, could cause serious problems for the likes of France or Wales. Kidney needs to start building now, rather than allowing the old, O’Sullivan-esque, focus of mediocre, short-term success and even a fear of failure, to take control of selection and tactics. If the likes of Cave and Earls are given their chance to shine this season, then who knows where it could lead in the coming seasons.
The Archipelago’s Team for France:
15. Robert Kearney
14. Tommy Bowe
13. Gordon D’Arcy
12. Paddy Wallace
11. Keith Earls
10. Ronan O’Gara
9. Tomas O’Leary
1. Tom Court
2. Rory Best
3. Michael Ross
4. Donnacha O’Callaghan
5. Paul O’Connell
6. Stephen Ferris
7. David Wallace
8. Jamie Heaslip
16. Jerry Flannery
17. Cian Healy
18. Donnacha Ryan
19. Denis Leamy
20. Eoin Reddan
21. Darren Cave
22. Luke Fitzgerald
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