I see little sense in excusing Kidney for making the same mistakes as predecessors, just because they made them and that's the way it is.
No, that should not be the way it is and if the IRFU have an ounce of sense and appoint Conor O'Shea as the next national boss then I honestly cannot see the same mistakes as being made now, being made again during his tenure.
It's Kidney's job to blood the next batch of players whilst remaining competitive, so making selections such as bringing Buckley & Paddy Wallace and shoe-horning Earls into 13 are HIS fault.
The point about Buckley not being 4th best TH is very valid, same question can be posed for D. Ryan and P. Wallace... are they really the next best in line? Doubt it...
Would bringing the likes of Hagan/Wilkinson, Toner/O'Donoghue, Keatley/Cave/Spence (insert your own batch of possible future players here) have been any worse? Sure they may not be up to scratch right now, but are the current incumbents really any more "up to scratch"? At least involving them might have some good in the long term, building their experience, showing them some faith, increasing national setup & tactic familiarity.
What point is there in the likes of Buckley, Ryan and Wallace (P)? They aren't the future, they aren't good enough now and serve little purpose bar their supposed ability to be versatile. Mediocre in lots of positions is not what we should be aiming for... we'll likely lose anyway if they are played, so why not have someone with prospects play their part... the current result may not be improved upon, but at least the future's might.
Kidney & his coaches MUST take their part in the blame of what is going on.
Christ, we're only 1 game into the RWC and I'm already this pessimistic? That is not an endorsement for the current state of the, what should be a good, Irish national team.
Oh, and saying we'll turn up against the Wallabies like we did against England in last seasons 6N... great! So we can expect another 6 months of mistakes and mediocrity until our next good performance... and another 3rd place in the 2012 6 Nations? Because that's acceptable right?
If this is our level, colour me broken, beaten & scarred