IRELAND XV
(v Russia, Rotorua, Sunday, 6.0am)
GERRY THORNLEY, Rugby Correspondent, in Rotorua
WORLD CUP POOL C: UNLIKE FOUR years ago, this truly will be a squad effort. Admittedly, the win over Australia has afforded Declan Kidney more room for manoeuvre than was the case in France, but even so the Irish coach has made nine changes in personnel and one positional switch for Sunday's game against Russia (kick-off 6pm local time/6am Irish time) in Rotorua. This time everyone is contributing and feels like part of the effort.
Indeed, about the only surprise is that Kidney perhaps didn't go a tad further. In any event, Fergus McFadden, Paddy Wallace, Isaac Boss, Seán Cronin and Leo Cullen, all make their first appearances of the tournament, as will the hitherto unused replacement Donnacha Ryan, while Andrew Trimble, Ronan O'Gara and Tony Buckley are promoted for their first starts.
The need for game time sees Rob Kearney, Cian Healy, Seán O'Brien and Jamie Heaslip retained, and thus Heaslip, along with Donncha O'Callaghan and Keith Earls (who switches to outside centre) are the only players being asked to start all three pool games thus far.
In all of this, Kidney acknowledged the need to "freshen things up", adding: "We had a big Test match last Saturday and so bringing the few extra bodies into it from the American game into the Australian game brought an injection of enthusiasm into the training and everything else, and we managed to do that on Tuesday and Wednesday when the lads coming in bring a freshness and enthusiasm."
Another positive aspect of a "tour" type scenario such as this, added Kidney, was that players have been training regularly in camp, are totally focused on the national set-up and know the calls, and therefore the disruption shouldn't be that significant. Even though players can return to their provinces during the Six Nations, they are also returning to different calls and systems.
In the case of O'Brien, he needs more game time at number seven on foot of David Wallace missing out, whereas there was no need to risk Stephen Ferris again after coming through his two games. "Seán needs the time at seven because it's a position that the more you play there the better you get, although if he keeps playing like he did the last day I'll be happy," admitted Kidney.
Winning, stressed Kidney, was the primary concern. "You go into every match to win it. The fact that we won (against Australia) makes everybody feel that bit better about themselves and it gives you a little bit more momentum, but in actual fact it doesn't make a bit of difference, because if we don't win the Italy one we don't go through anyway.
"Even though Australia was the pool match that everybody wanted to win, Italy is the vital one, and that's not being rude to Russia. The truth of it is that we can lose to Russia and still go through by beating Italy. If we beat Russia we still have to beat Italy to go through to the pool stages."
It's a typical left-field way of Kidney to look at things, for there wouldn't even appear to be two chances of Ireland losing to Russia (playing their third game in 11 days), whereas a big, bonus-point win could conceivably give Ireland additional elbow room in the final pool game against Italy – ie a bonus-point defeat in Dunedin squeezing Ireland through.
That would be a huge anti-climax now, but at least it could be an insurance policy.
Kidney also stressed that the Italian game did not inform this selection in any way. "But, what has it (the win over Australia) done? It's just nice to win a match like that, that you weren't the bookies' favourites for. But the great thing about it is that there's enough experience in the group to know that that's what it was. It was a win in one match that will be handy down the road but we need to back it up."
Denis Leamy is the only player, apart from late call-up Damien Varley, who has yet to start a game. He is at least on a strong looking bench, along with Shane Jennings, where Kidney has also taken the precaution of having Mike Ross. Against the Russian scrum, which was pulverised by the Italian pack on Tuesday night, that will be a disappointment for Tom Court.
The only players ruled out through injury are Paul O'Connell, Gordon D'Arcy (both hamstrung) and Tommy Bowe, whose calf injury may explain why McFadden starts on the wing, with Earls switching to centre. That said, Kidney didn't definitely foresee McFadden getting some time in midfield.
There's an onus on the players coming in to move things on, although the nature of the opposition from last week to this week makes that seem almost impossible. Perhaps seeking to take the pressure off them, Kidney adhered to his old maxim that a 3-0 win would make him happy (even if it assuredly wouldn't in reality).
"That's the way I'd see any Test match. Whereas we're capable of beating Australia, we're also capable of losing to Russia. We have enough experiences of World Cups now to know there will be no easy match" said Kidney, who made the point that Russia were reeling from the early Italian onslaught, but once they got themselves into the match, scored three tries, which was one more than Ireland managed against Italy last February.
"The way I see any match for us is that it's just a big challenge and World Cups have shown before than if you go into these matches any way half-cocked it will be a difficult night. We've seen that happen us before, but if we approach it properly and get ourselves right then we have the ability to get a result, but I wouldn't be thinking that we'll be running away with it."
