Tony Ward: Axed Slam stars have only selves to blame as Kidney gets tough
In naming his squad for the World Cup, Declan Kidney has acted with the decisiveness sorely lacking from his team at the Aviva last Saturday. The sense had been of a travelling 30 all but set in stone.
Whatever else it may have done, Saturday's no-show against the French put the cat among the pigeons and Kidney, in axing no fewer than six of his Grand Slam-winning squad, has shown little room for sentiment.
He has picked on form and sod reputation, with Luke Fitzgerald, Tomas O'Leary, John Hayes, Marcus Horan, Mick O'Driscoll and Peter Stringer all consigned to a standby place at best.
It is a bold call but the right one. Only in the case of Fitzgerald could I argue with Kidney's selection -- I feel there is potential game-breaking talent being left at home.
Injury has inevitably played its part, with Felix Jones the most unlucky in that regard. It wasn't that he was setting the world on fire, but certainly there was enough evidence to suggest his place alongside Rob Kearney on the flight Down Under was secure.
KARMA
I guess there is a touch of irony and good karma in Geordan Murphy being the one to benefit (remember the Murrayfield game ahead of the 2003 World Cup and that leg break with the Leicester full-back then in his running pomp?).
Kearney travels as No 1 full-back, and rightly so, but with Murphy now in reserve the last line of defence is in good hands.
There was always set to be at least one casualty of the exacting August schedule and unfortunately for the emerging Munster full-back, Jones is it.
Beyond the injuries, Kidney's 16/14 forwards/backs split is good news for Fergus McFadden and Conor Murray, with Fitzgerald and O'Leary the fall guys.
Murray is the bolter in the squad, but he is not there to make up the numbers by any means.
What Murray clearly lacks in experience, he makes up in talent and form. More than that, he has the greatest all-round potential of the three travelling scrum-halves.
It looks as though the pecking order for the No 9 jersey is Eoin Reddan one, Isaac Boss two and Murray the outsider, but the young Munster man is in the frame big time for a starting spot.
O'Leary has no one to blame but himself. He knows he blew it on Saturday, which hardly makes the hurt any easier, but that is the reality.
For all his defensive qualities, his fundamentals of kicking and passing are much too ragged for comfort. It is some fall, from one to four in the pecking order, but O'Leary's demotion tells you as much about the coach's state of mind as the Munster player's indifferent form right now.
The final backline call was always set to go down to the wire as a toss-up between McFadden and Fitzgerald. Here again, as with Murray over O'Leary, Kidney has picked according to the key criterion of form.
Fitzgerald will be hurt by his omission, but injury and inconsistency over the past 12 months have cost him dear.
Indeed, if he is guilty of anything it is of trying too hard. In the process, his confidence has suffered.
All that said, I still think he is much too talented to leave behind, but that call is now made and with it the head coach has delivered the strongest message to those still travelling.
In addition to three-quarter line versatility, McFadden also has that goal-kicking string to his bow.
He was unlucky to lose out to Fitzgerald in Leinster's run-in to last season's Heineken Cup, but such has been his consistency that the call between the two for World Cup inclusion was always set to be tight. The decision may be bold, but it is not earth-shattering.
Bear in mind that Kidney's reputation is also on the line, and while his job may not be in jeopardy at this point in time (having just signed a further two-year extension to his contract), he knows that pressure would mount if Ireland were to endure another indifferent World Cup.
Tommy Bowe, too, is badly in need of a run, but at least in his absence Andrew Trimble has made the switch from left flank to right with no apparent discomfort.
Again on Saturday he was industrious in all he did and was second only to Sean O'Brien as our standout figure in a collective performance best forgotten.
Donnacha Ryan has got the utility-forward nod and deservedly so. He and Leo Cullen will form the back-up lock combination to Donncha O'Callaghan and Paul O'Connell.
If there is one obvious risk it is in the back-row where, with David Wallace short on game time, we travel without an out-and-out scavenger in the mould of Australia's David Pocock.
It would seem to indicate a more streamlined approach irrespective of the apparent laissez faire mood in evidence on Saturday.
PROMINENT
On the openside flank, Shane Jennings needed an assertive and prominent game in the No 7 shirt on Saturday, but, such was the French back-row physicality, he was tied in to wrestling contests he could well have done without.
Mike McCarthy, too, will be disappointed, but the Connacht back-row should not be too down-hearted, given the massive strides he has made at this level over the summer.
Perhaps with the squad now out it will loosen the shackles, although the scramble for seats on the plane didn't seem to affect the French when they fielded two almost entirely different teams over the past two weekends.
Between now and Saturday, let there be little talk of performance and much more emphasis on winning.
In omitting two of what could be best described as "his players" in O'Leary and Fitzgerald, Kidney has given the first indication that his patience is wearing thin.
That is no bad thing. If it leads to a greater mix of physicality, half-back control and that so-called brand we were trying to impose against the French, then hallelujah to it.
- Tony Ward
Irish Independent
