WHEREAS THE changes at outhalf and inside centre were of the coaches’ own volition, the only enforced alterations to the Irish team that started the 66-28 defeat to the All Blacks see an entirely remodelled backrow. It’s also fairly makeshift, for although the net effect was to see Shane Jennings named at six, the likelihood is Niall Ronan will play at least most of the game at blindside.
Given Gert Smal’s statements regarding the need for experience and lineout options in a game such as this, it seemed pertinent to ask coach Declan Kidney if there had been any consideration given to a call-up for Alan Quinlan, who would have provided both valuable experience, a lineout option and a whole lot more besides.
“I had serious thoughts about it, about bringing Alan over,” said Kidney. “I know that Quinny can be an option for us for the World Cup if he has a good year this year, but we’re three weeks into the off-season, we’ve fellas who have been training regularly, there’s the travel over.
“I could have had him over last Sunday, I know that, but there were all those things in the balance then too. What do you do? Do you stay with what you have or do you bring guys in then?
“I just thought that after Friday night we’d give these fellas another run, see what we have knowing that we could have Quinny there. You have to live in the here and now, but you have both options going forward.”
While the ever-changing face of this Irish team has been largely injury enforced, the shifting sands of time have never felt so pronounced since Warren Gatland introduced five new caps in that seminal win over Scotland in 2000.
Of that team, only Brian O’Driscoll starts on Saturday. Only he and Donncha O’Callaghan survive of Eddie O’Sullivan’s 15 Untouchables who were taken to the 2007 World Cup and only five of the starting XV that completed the Grand Slam in Cardiff.
Time, and injuries on rugby’s unforgiving modern treadmill, wait for no team. The flip side of all that is Chris Henry, a Lisburn lad and a product of Wallace High School, Queen’s University, and Ballymena, making his Test debut. “It means everything. Since I was a youngster this is something I’ve always dreamed of. It’s been an exciting week and I just can’t wait to get out on the pitch and hopefully throw myself into the game.”
Reckoning he began dreaming of this when he was five when: “I was running around the pitches of Malone Rugby Club, just around the corner from Ravenhill. You always fantasise about all of that when you’re a youngster and you’re watching the Ireland teams so yeah it’s definitely a big dream come true.”
Henry paid tribute to his father Willy, who passed away two months ago, as the biggest influence on his career. “He was a massive influence. Sadly, he won’t be here to watch it but all my family are at home very excited and it’ll be a big day for us all.”
In addition to opting for Tony Buckley ahead of John Hayes, Kidney and co have chosen Jonathan Sexton and Paddy Wallace above Ronan O’Gara and Gordon D’Arcy. Of those three multi-decorated thirtysomethings, only O’Gara (one short of making his century of Irish caps) makes the bench.
Leaving O’Gara stranded on 99 only made this decision worse. “Yea, yea, yea, it certainly is,” admitted Kidney with a note of genuine sadness in his eyes, “but he’d be the last person that would want emotion to come into the whole thing. You have to do what you think is right. To leave John Hayes out after what, 102 caps, and there’s probably only been 105 in that time. But yea.”
“I remember talking to Tom Kiernan one day,” Kidney added by way of tribute to O’Gara’s potential milestone, “and he was just saying he doesn’t know how Rog has done it, performing at that level in that position, that consistently, over that period of time, is an incredible achievement. But I’d like to think there’s more than 100 in Ronan. That’s what my belief is, when the 100 comes it’ll come, but to do what he’s done to date, and to keep doing it, we are in that lucky position.”
As for tighthead, Kidney commented: “I thought Tony had run well (against the All Blacks). John had picked up a virus earlier on in the trip. He came out and played the second half against the Maoris and I felt he wasn’t as sharp as he usually is.
“But the demands on John have been colossal and I thought Tony was going alright so it’s an opportunity to do both things.”
Brisbane has particularly fond memories for O’Driscoll, who made his Test debut for Ireland in the 46-10 defeat in Ballymore 11 years ago this month, and truly marked his arrival on the world stage with that astonishing try against the Wallabies on his Lions Test debut nine years ago at the Gabba. On Saturday he will eclipse Hayes as Ireland’s most capped player when winning his 103rd cap.
Recalling the mixed emotions of his Irish debut, O’Driscoll said: “It was a very exciting time. Seems like an eternity ago. I suppose the advice I’ve always given to new caps is you’ve been selected because you’re one of the in-form players in the country. It’s come to you and it’s an opportunity to stake a claim for a regular place in the team. That’s the way I looked at it 11 years ago, so I’d encourage people to think likewise.”
