Kidney needs a good 6 Nations or he should go

It's been yet another good weekend for Ireland in the Heineken Cup. Ulster were the only ones to lose, but they went toe to toe with one of the best and most expensively assembled teams in France in their own backyard. Three Irish teams have qualified for the quarter finals. We should be riding a wave of confidence going into the 6 Nations.

But I'm not confident at all about the 6 Nations. I'm not exactly pessimistic. But have no idea how Ireland will do. The rise in competitiveness of of the Irish provinces was initially mirrored by a rise in competitiveness of the national team. But since 2009, the provinces have continued to go from strength to strength, while the Irish team has stalled. If anything the provinces are tightening their grip on the Heineken Cup. Ulster have thrashed Leicester. Munster have thrashed Northampton. Leinster are criticized if they don't hand out the expected thrashing.

But Ireland are going backwards if anything. Each successive 6 Nations under Kidney has been worse than the previous one. The majority of Irish performances are disappointingly, rudderless, jittery and confused. I don't think this is acceptable when three Irish teams are producing dominant performances at the highest domestic level. Ireland don't look as confident as the provinces. They don't look as composed or as comfortable with their game plan. They don't use the bench as cleverly as the provinces.

Kidney has three quality Heineken Cup sides to choose from. He has more quality at his disposal than Wales, England, Scotland or Italy. If he has a poor 6 Nations for the third time in a row he should go.

Totally agree - with the talent Ireland have available, we should be doing much better than we are IMO. A team is only as good as its coach. Hence why France haven't been at their best also with Leivremont, and SA with PDV. Which is also why I think France are going to win this 6 nations.

Unless you´re the AB coach and then some people still say my grandma could coach them and they´d still win.

The start is the key for Ireland and Kidney. If they lose the first two then the knives will be out. If Kidney can win at home and then still loses to France, people won't be too upset. If he wins both, regardless of what happens afterwards he´ll have secured his job until the next World Cup.

3 wins for me is a minimum. The problem is (for those wanting to see Kidney go) is that Ireland have a knack of getting at least those 3 wins on a regular basis. It´d need something calamitously bad like 2 wins or even 1 to oust him and I don't see that happening.

Yes, I'd concur with the general idea that Irish Provincial success and ...well, organisation.... is not being reflected in the International set up. We have the players to compete on a level playing field with not only England and Wales but also with France. Yes, a French team might take the championship this year but Irish provinces have proven they are consistent, and consistently high ranked HC contenders.

But if you want to cut Kidney some slack you'd have a few things you could point to.

1. - The team of the Noughties was a team mostly. A select bunch of above average players (for Ireland) who seemed to come together, gelled and then kinda crusied through the decade riding on reasonable success and getting a tagline - Golden Generation. Did they live up to the tag? Well, in ways they did and, in other ways, they fell far short. But the point is that it was much more a team than a squad, and its sucess depended on them being fit and available - 24 hours a day in the case of Hayes! Was it all the right coaches at the right times? I'm not so certain. The right players who just hit a sweet spot for a duration. So the Provincial success might have been feeding into the success of the International side but you could also say the International players were anchoring their Provincial sides and giving them a more realistic footing in HC competition.

2. It's only with the success of Provinces, (that has taken the actual complete decade to prove incidently. You need a collection of seasons to prove it isn't a fluke) it's only with that success that they now have the monetary and structural assurance to be in with a chance of sustaining themselves at the top of Europe through the next decade. They now have the ability to have bigger squads, more young players coming through efficently run acadamies, more of the better foreign players wanting to play for them, more home player choice on play day, more home players putting up their hands for each international position.

That might seem a strength and something that should suggest the International side should be already reaching standards higher than they have been. Well maybe. But like I said, I see this engine that the old International (Golden Generation) stalwarts created as only really beginning to churn now - only starting up. We are still in the process of offloading that old generation, still experimenting with the new one. Below par results and performances might be expected rather than frowned upon in those circumstances.

3. Kidney gave himself the brief to create a realistic squad of some 30 players rather than do the quick fix 'next fifteen'. To have that as a goal at the same time as you have pressures to win every game you play in, and win the Six Nations and win (if you can) against SH opposition, is tough for a small country and tough on the coach. With those commercial pressures for continued immediate success tied into the need to reap the benefits in the long term of Provincial success (by creating a fluid structure of young players continuously filling in the International blanks)... it's a tall order. I think he's getting there...but it's obviously a struggle for him and for us.

I get frustrated with him too but then I also say nobody will be able to contain the abilities of these young men rising through the ranks. They are being taught by the best (coaches as well as players). They will have the skills necessary and the heart; and whether it is Kidney or another coach, they will come good as Irish players in an Irish shirt. It will happen. The Union between Provincial and International strength will be achieved.

Only seen the Munster game, but if the rest of the Irish sides played anythig like Munster did when the beat Saints, then Ireland could well be in the run in for the 6ns title. (no i AM not Saying a grand SLAM)

Grand Slam or bust. Nothing else is acceptable. Kidney has all the resources he needs... no more 'we're a small country' rhetoric.

We have the best club teams in Europe and the best set up to maximise player welfare. It's all there, no more mediocre and disjointed performances. Fire and brimstone every time. Its in our hands.

Two seconds after the final whistle, first game in Dublin: "Why???!!!! Why!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why did you do it, Declan!!! Why Earls at 13??!!!!!"

Sorry for the damper Rodders, but you were getting a little hot there

Haven't you heard fly....Earls is the new BOD!

Kidney upped the stakes, he's upped them in a big way.

If he chose to blood new players, people would give him some slack for average performances and results. At least we'd be being sold the promise of improvement down the line- we're still moving forward in the eyes of the fans

By sticking with the same squad, we are saying right now we're thinking short term. And that means getting results. We can't not blood players AND lose a lot of games. Then we're not moving anywhere and things need to change.

So that was the situation when he announced the squad- then, boom. Three teams in the quarter-finals. Two of them unbeaten top seeds, the other genuinely devastated not to beat Clermont away- because those are the standards of Irish provincial rugby right now. We've never had more momentum going into the Six Nations.

So the stakes double, again. I always thought Kidney would be a pretty good poker player. He's not all in yet, but anything less than 4 wins and his position is under threat.

roddersm wrote:Grand Slam or bust. Nothing else is acceptable. Kidney has all the resources he needs... no more 'we're a small country' rhetoric.

We have the best club teams in Europe and the best set up to maximise player welfare. It's all there, no more mediocre and disjointed performances. Fire and brimstone every time. Its in our hands.

We're playing France (who aren't being coached by a clown any more) in Paris Rodders. Come on now, we're not New Zealand like.

I agree with Notch that he needs four wins though. The provinces have put in great performances, time for Ireland to do the same (against all five countries, not just one)

That's a good way of looking at it Notch. I'm always criticizing Kidney here. But I'd be delighted if we succeed under him. The reason I wrote the article is because I think it's be make or break for him now after the World Cup disappointment.

A poor 6 Nations and that's three underachieving years in a row. Win the 6 Nations and that's two titles in four years. Can lose in Paris and still win the title. But we have to score more heavily against Italy, and put a big score on another team for that to happen. There's no reason for us to struggle to a last gasp win against the Italians.

mrsuperclear wrote:
We're playing France (who aren't being coached by a clown any more) in Paris Rodders. Come on now, we're not New Zealand like.

No no I'm not having that...no excuses for Kidney we are good enough to beat France in Paris. We put France on a pedestal despite beating them regularly at provincial level. Even Wales and England approach that one with more confidence than we do. Our 3rd best team took their best to the limit on their own turf on Saturday.

The provincial coaches have thrown down the gauntlet. 5 wins Mr Kidney or hand in your cards sir.

If they can just start with momentum and actually for once sustain it into the following week. I think if we even got that, we'd be surprised. The Players ARE there - even the usual suspects - they can play with an intensity on a regular basis. And what the hell is intensity? It isn't scientific. It's a tempo. It's a mood.

You can have the best players in Europe, and we have our fair share, but if you play at a tempo that allows lesser teams a snif, they'll take up the offer. The two games actually that are going to tell me a lot about this side are the games with France (will they allow themselves to feel unsettled by the smooth French at home) and the Italians (will they slow down the tempo dramatically to have their yearly muck fight with them) If we do, Kidney really isn't learning from mistakes.

roddersm wrote:

mrsuperclear wrote:
We're playing France (who aren't being coached by a clown any more) in Paris Rodders. Come on now, we're not New Zealand like.

No no I'm not having that...no excuses for Kidney we are good enough to beat France in Paris. We put France on a pedestal despite beating them regularly at provincial level. Even Wales and England approach that one with more confidence than we do. Our 3rd best team took their best to the limit on their own turf on Saturday.

The provincial coaches have thrown down the gauntlet. 5 wins Mr Kidney or hand in your cards sir.

You've changed man. I remember you during the summer being convinced we'd lose to Italy in the world cup. Look how far you've come. Now we should be beating France in Paris no problem, eh?

For the record, I'm not saying we're not good enough to beat France in Paris. Of course we're capable of doing so. But equally, France are capable of beating New Zealand in New Zealand in a world cup final. If you think Deccie needs to win that game or say goodbye I'd suggest that's slightly harsh boss.

Still, I admire you're newfound optimism and wholeheartedly agree that we shouldn't put France on a pedestal any longer. I just think they're still more capable of winning a six nations match in Paris is all.

If we play to our best then the other teams can't live with us..I truely believe that and I'm the most negative Irish poster on here.

There I said it and am there to be shot down, but feck it the 6N starts in couple of weeks so there's no point being cagey about it.

I'm sick of the unspiring clap trap and dross. We have the players, one GS and a few triple crowns is not good enough..I want more god damn it!

I like Deccie and I agree he needs to start delivering (Grand Slam or bust is a bit OTT though) but if we were to get rid of him, who do we hire?

You're right about the tempo Fly. Irish provinces can, and do, blitz opposition teams off the park with the ferocity of their rucking and the speed with which they recycle the ball.

If it can be done to Tigers, Saints, Toulouse and Clermont, then it can be done to the Italians. But we sometimes seem determined to face down every team in a style of their choosing.

The tempo we brought to the 6 Nations match against England is a tempo that I think only the French could live with. It's time to see us impose our game on the other nations and stop letting games get into a rhythm the opposition are comfortable with.

mrsuperclear wrote:
You've changed man. I remember you during the summer being convinced we'd lose to Italy in the world cup. Look how far you've come. Now we should be beating France in Paris no problem, eh?

Yea can't help it..I've been inspired...the provincial performances have exceeded my expectations across the board..Leinster a class apart, Munster back on top, Ulster up there with the best, Connacht punching above their weight and playing great stuff. Talent everywhere young and old. The bar has been raised and the National teams performance needs to reflect that. We should fear no one.

Notch wrote:Kidney upped the stakes, he's upped them in a big way.

If he chose to blood new players, people would give him some slack for average performances and results. At least we'd be being sold the promise of improvement down the line- we're still moving forward in the eyes of the fans

By sticking with the same squad, we are saying right now we're thinking short term. And that means getting results. We can't not blood players AND lose a lot of games. Then we're not moving anywhere and things need to change.

So that was the situation when he announced the squad- then, boom. Three teams in the quarter-finals. Two of them unbeaten top seeds, the other genuinely devastated not to beat Clermont away- because those are the standards of Irish provincial rugby right now. We've never had more momentum going into the Six Nations.

So the stakes double, again. I always thought Kidney would be a pretty good poker player. He's not all in yet, but anything less than 4 wins and his position is under threat.

A lot of "if"s there Notch. You could just as easily say if we played some of the young pretenders, we could end up with a George North, Toby Faletau etc. Just because we play young players hardly means we would lose, not sure how you apparently know that would happen. I don't particularly blame Kidney for not bringing in the young players, but for choosing the wrong teams, and poor game plans. For example, there is no excuse at all for D'Arcy starting for all these years. Nor is there any excuse that our back-line has been so poor in attack, with the amount of talent and danger-men we have. I think we have some of the most talented players in the world (potentially) available that is being wasted currently.

You can't pin the backline woes on Kidney. You have a backs coach for a reason. (he shouldn't have hired Gaffney but that's another issue)

"He shouldn't have hired Gaffney". Therefore he is still at fault, and for not getting rid of him when it quite clearly has not been working.

Gaffney going is no loss, but now we don't seem to have any backs coach.

For the umpteenth time I ask, why can't Joe Schmidt be drafted in drill the back line - after all half of them are going to be from Leinster anyway and the non-Leinster lads are quality - Murray, Earls, Bowe etc

I'll put my hand up as one of the terrible lads with no brains that actually felt Gaffney would bring much more to the backline creativity. I thought we'd really get motoring on the backs....em, front.

But yeah, it looks like I was wrong about him and I don't know why. We'll see if they do the same sawing motions infront of an immovable opposition defence and make our judgements then about whether old Gaffney was entirely to blame.

But for now, yep - it was his role and it was a very disappointing aspect of our game during his tenure.

Lads relax, we don't need a backs coach...just give the ball to Paddy Wallace and let him weave his magic...

Kiss has been a backs coach before so no problem.

roddersm wrote:Lads relax, we don't need a backs coach...just give the ball to Paddy Wallace and let him weave his magic...

But I think we all know who will be starting at 12..

Interview with Kiss in the the Sunday Times. He says the team have met and all said attack was the weakest part of their game. And that's what needs to improve. He said there aren't going to be drastic changes. It'll 80% the same, but they want to be more unpredictable.

Doesn't sound that promising but maybe drastic changes aren't needed. I think that simply the presence of Earls and Sexton instead of BOD and ROG wil automatically make them a bit less predictable.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

roddersm wrote:Lads relax, we don't need a backs coach...just give the ball to Paddy Wallace and let him weave his magic...

But I think we all know who will be starting at 12..

That lad? The baldy guy? Who the hell is he?

There's no backs coach in the world can get that baldy guy over the gainline....

Feckless Rogue wrote:Interview with Kiss in the the Sunday Times. He says the team have met and all said attack was the weakest part of their game. And that's what needs to improve. He said there aren't going to be drastic changes. It'll 80% the same, but they want to be more unpredictable.

Doesn't sound that promising but maybe drastic changes aren't needed. I think that simply the presence of Earls and Sexton instead of BOD and ROG wil automatically make them a bit less predictable.

Well at least it sounds like they've pinned down the main problem. No point in holding off and defending excellently and stealing ball at the breakdown if nothing happens to the ball when we have it - with our backs anyway. Or worse, kicking the bloody thing back at them.

Unpredictability for me means they'll have to quickly react with support for players who make breaks out of nothing. All too often creative breaks by Ireland have been dragged down through lack of crucial support available to left and to right. If that's not there then the creative spark falls apart and the player who created it can often look foolish (and get the criticism the next day). Again, it comes down to tempo and being alive to possibilities but mostly to react quicker and ensure support is available quickly to players who operate on instinct.

Oh jeez change the record....

First of all DK is going nowhere until his contract runs out in 2013.

Secondly outside of one or two possibilities he has picked probably the best players at his disposal (Darcy for example is playing well, Earls is playing well and guess what they are in there respective positions in their HC teams for their provinces so clearly Schmidt/McGahan agree with Kidney for example), also Paddy Wallace is playing well. If any of the backline is in danger of being dropped it is Bowe who is playing pants for Ospreys.
Thirdly this is a group of players who did reasonably well in the World cup and their first game is against Wales. Of course he is going to give them a chance to redeem themselves that is what Kidney is going to do...there are none in the group who deserve to be dropped.

Lastly as has been pointed out by some commentators Kidney is constrained by the need to get results in the 6ns. That is the directive from the IRFU as that is their bread and butter.

But hey dont let the facts get in the way of a mindless bitching session.

I agree DOD....I expect and demand another GS and I believe Kidney will deliver it, with or without the baldy bloke at 12.

What about Donnacha Ryan eh? He's like a man possessed these days!....Will Greenwood said he looked like the Predator when Saints scored the second penalty try! The guy is seriously coming into his own!...and Zebo! The guy is electric!

Look Rodders am very disappointed that POM or Zebo (as an example - Marshall is another) havent made the Wolfhounds at least. It looks as if those two will just be holding tackle bags. But you cant blame Kidney for giving the team a chance of redemption.

If things dont go well I dont expect Kidney to leave but I do expect that by the end of the 6ns the team will have a newer feel about it than that which started.

DOD I'm always slagging Kidney off, there's no point denying it. I want Ireland to do well and believe we are underperforming.

Every so often Kidney pulls a rabbit out of the hat and I'm forced to reassess.

The cards are stacked heavily in his favour. I'm lost for superlatives for our provincial performances across the board. They have reached a new level.

Kidney simply has to deliver and I'm going to be positive for a change and believe he will.

For me I see some other talent starting to show. I agree (to an extent) with the squad chosen. If they do well (i.e 4 wins at least)then fine and will move on to the summer tour. If not and there isnt some change in the make up of the team and squad then I will be reasessing my views myself.

4 wins should be a minimum....even with England and France away...we're too good to be dropping down to 3 wins or less. Far too good man, far too good.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:
A lot of "if"s there Notch. You could just as easily say if we played some of the young pretenders, we could end up with a George North, Toby Faletau etc. Just because we play young players hardly means we would lose, not sure how you apparently know that would happen. .

There is a lot of ifs because I'm talking about how people would react if we didn't do well with younger players coming in as opposed to the same squad. I never actually ventured any opinion about what I think would happen if we went with youth or what we should be doing in terms of selection. I'm just talking aout how other scenarios could have affected the public and medias perception of Kidney in the event of a poor 6 nations.

Obviously if we win the Six Nations he'd be feted and it wouldn't be an issue no matter who is picked- did you really need me to point that out?

Anyway, I really hope the main changes are Donnacha Ryan in for O'Callaghan, Sean Cronin to start getting decent gametime off the bench and maybe one start if he does well and his darts are good, Chris Henry to come into the matchday 22 as cover, Trimble to get an extended run and whoever plays centre to to form a convincing combination in defence and attack.

It's basically a case of us needing to improve in attack in a big way because where we are everywhere else is fine and I think only O'Callaghan is showing signs of an age-linked decline in form. I think the issues with Gordon D'Arcy and Paddy Wallace in green aren't to do with age catching up to them but rather an insipid gameplan.

Not to deflect from the main reason for this article but in real terms what advantages would Ireland get by replacing D'Arcy with Wallace?

Kicking game - PW has better ability here but do we need it, would it be a game changer?

Distribution - Better hands than D'Arcy? Will it make all that much of a diff as it will be a new center pairing either way?

Attacking lines?

Line Breaking ability?

Defence?

I'm not trying to slag anyone off here btw just looking for feedback. There hasn't been a single poster on any thread in favour of D'Arcy ( fair enough I'm not going to be the first) but I'm very interested in what the combination will be and if it lasts the tournament (injuries aside).

For the Wallace supporters do you think he is our absolute best option there or are there other players you feel are ahead of him (Kidney and his conservitive selection policy aside)

Kidney is going to be in for some serious flak if this center pairing fails to deliver or if the team fails to gel and produce results. Its the championship or nothing for DK this year (IMO).

PS. Does anyone know of any bad blood betwen Kidney and Schmidt? Can't imagine there is any reason for there to be and they must talk semi regularly re player management etc. Why can't he be drafted in as backs coach ( I asked this Q on here prior to the world cup looking back there were some interesting responses given what panned out!)

Goosestepper wrote:Not to deflect from the main reason for this article but in real terms what advantages would Ireland get by replacing D'Arcy with Wallace?

Kicking game - PW has better ability here but do we need it, would it be a game changer?

Distribution - Better hands than D'Arcy? Will it make all that much of a diff as it will be a new center pairing either way?

Attacking lines?

Line Breaking ability?

Defence?

I think Wallace is better in nearly all those areas. Obviously he has a better kicking game and is an excellent passer off both hands but in my opinion hes a better defender and is quicker than D'arcy these days too. He's a much better tackler than given credit for and deceptively powerful.

D'arcy is stronger in contact though and has that leg drive but he is very predictable these days and has lost that line breaking ability.

That said I'm not convinced that Wallace can bring his Ulster form for Ireland. I'm not sure if its psychological but he has rarely delivered the same sort of commending 80 min performances so for me there are question marks over Wallace's temperment. He is in very good form though.

Personally I'd go with McFadden. Whitten has become the forgotten man too and was unlucky not to make the Wolfhounds.

Whoever Kidney picks needs to deliver, regardless if they are 22 or 32 because there are so many quality players around.

One of the reason for conservatism may well be protection our ranking as the rankings in December will determine the World Cup groups - we do not want to be a 3rd seed under any circumstances.

For the record if we win 3 games he will be under no threat whatsoever, unless the way we play is very poor and/or we get hammered in the other two games. To think otherwise is just wiseful thinking.

Goosestepper interesting post - you ask some question re Wallace and D'Arcy

The think is the question you ask are, in 4 out 5 cases, those areas where Wallace is clearly the better player.

I might give D'Arcy defence but that is debateable.
What D'Arcy can being to the table is an abilty to break the gain line and experience.

hmmmmm......no disrespect to Paddy Wallace, he's playing well for his province and deserves to be in the mix. I would maybe argue that D'Arcy is still the better tackler and defender but if PW gets a starting berth (injuries permitting) at the expense of D'Arcy then thats ok with me........ and he seems like a nice bloke........

......However I just can't see him being a game winner and posing a problem for the big boys. I think those attributes listed are well known by the opposition & unfortuneately for PW he's had just enough exposure at internation level to be a known quantity but never the time/starts to develop or change his game AND know with some confidence that if he has 1 or 2 bad games he won't be dropped (Maybe why he has never shown the form displayed at Ulster at International level)

I do hope that DK will go with an all new center pairing or a least shake it up by bringing in some of the youngsters but if he does he MUST give them a fresh attacking emphasis as it would be criminal to send them out there to get shown up and destroy their confidence.

Also does D'Arcy have the potential for an "Indian Summer", are we writing him off based on a couple of seasons? After all he is still a regular starter at Leinster, no one is really calling for his head there - and they're not doing too bad..............

However this is about the combination at center. Can we get whoever it is to click and for them to develop some confidence and trust and can we afford to give that combination time/games to develop.

As for the seedings I really do not hope DK is planning for that he has far bigger fish to fry. And yes I think in the traditional "Celebrate Mediocrity" IRFU mindset all he has to do is deliver a couple of decent wins ( a La England last year) and he'll be nailed on for another couple of years

Actually Goosestepper Leinster fans have been calling for Fergus McFadden to start ahead of D'arcy for a while.

I don't believe he will have an indian summer because his greatest assets were his pace, power and acceleration and he has lost those. Unlike O'Driscoll he doesn't have other attributes in enough abundance to compensate. He used to run a great outside arc and burn defenders off, now he just cuts back and takes contact.

Disagree strongly that D'arcy is a better tackler but I would have no complaints with D'arcy starting as I'm not convinced that Wallace can play as well for Ireland as he is for Ulster.

Sorry Roddersm I guess I meant there wasn't the same high emotion and demands that he shouldn't even be in the squad............. Maybe the defensive pairing with BOD was/is flattering to him.

Notch wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:
A lot of "if"s there Notch. You could just as easily say if we played some of the young pretenders, we could end up with a George North, Toby Faletau etc. Just because we play young players hardly means we would lose, not sure how you apparently know that would happen. .

There is a lot of ifs because I'm talking about how people would react if we didn't do well with younger players coming in as opposed to the same squad. I never actually ventured any opinion about what I think would happen if we went with youth or what we should be doing in terms of selection. I'm just talking aout how other scenarios could have affected the public and medias perception of Kidney in the event of a poor 6 nations.

Obviously if we win the Six Nations he'd be feted and it wouldn't be an issue no matter who is picked- did you really need me to point that out?

"If he chose to blood new players, people would give him some slack for average performances and results"

That to me looks like your opinion on what scenario you expect to happen if he plays younger players. I am going by what you type on an internet forum, not what you think in your head but didn't express correctly. You didn't mention any other scenarios. So yeah thank you for pointing out what you meant.

But the point is, the players people are saying Kidney should have looked into, such as Henry, Marshall, Tuohy, Toner etc aren't actually the younger players anyway. In fact Earls and Fitzgerald who are now established players in the side (well, Earls) are younger than those listed. I sincerely hope that if they have a good game for the Wolfhounds, Kidney is going to draft them into the main squad (with the exception of Marshall since he didn't even make the Wolfhounds). The young players we do have should be developed now rather than later so that they don't end up in the scrap heap also. The likes of Gilroy, Spence, Zebo, Marshall, Hanrahan, POM etc. They need time with the wolfhounds and with their provinces.

maybe at the rate Wales are loosing players to injury we'll have to loan them a couple of players the morning of the match - problem solved everyone gets a run out!

Actually i'd love to shoot Gatland with a dart filled with truth serum. What Irish selection would he least like to see - that would be my team for the tournament!

as an outsider looking in it does seem to me that there is plenty of cause for optimism for ireland considering the performances of the provences in the HC but the question really is the balance of the test side.
it seems to me that ireland could field 2 test quality 2nd and back rows but depth in the front row would be a concern.
in the backs there are some seriously talented players also but the provincial sides are balanced (particulrly in the centres) with NIQ players.

Get the balance right and ireland will be up there with france, get it wrong and the test side may struggle to live up to the promise shown by the provinces.

HQ matt wrote:it seems to me that ireland could field 2 test quality 2nd and back rows but depth in the front row would be a concern.
in the backs there are some seriously talented players also but the provincial sides are balanced (particulrly in the centres) with NIQ players.

Get the balance right and ireland will be up there with france, get it wrong and the test side may struggle to live up to the promise shown by the provinces.

Very true Matt. Lots of talent everywhere bar TH prop. Jamie Hagan did well at the weekend though against Montpellier but yeah its a concern.