Byline: by SHANE McGRATH
HIS captain was absent, the wind outside was portending a treacherous day for rugby at Twickenham this afternoon, and still Declan Kidney was smiling.
'It's going to be what a top-class game should be,' he offered, after delivering a lung-burning tribute to today's opponents.
Measuring what he meant by top-class is a tricky challenge, given the late injury doubts that surfaced about the fitness of the incontestably top-class Brian O'Driscoll. But even catalog printing if, as expected, the Irish captain works illness out of his system rapidly enough to take his place in the side, the one area this game is guaranteed to reach top-level standards is in brute attrition.
That is not to buy the sometimes lazy rendering of England as one-dimensional attackers who would look unsophisticated lumbering around some of the bloodier battle scenes in The Lord Of The Rings.
Instead, it is to note that the hosts are coming up against the Grand Slam champions at home, in front of a partisan crowd demanding victory after the brittle nature of England's victory in Rome.
It is also to recognise that Ireland need victory just as desperately, and after the elementary mistakes that haunted their performance in Paris, they will cleave to the basics and make pouring a sturdy foundation their most important task. Combined, these two motivations suggest a game that will be fierce -- and far from a masterpiece.
'They've come through a few games now without any bangs or knocks and that always gives an element of cohesiveness and momentum,' said Kidney.
'Like all English sides they'll be very physical, they know the game well, they have a very strong defence, one of the strongest in last year's Six Nations.
ghd flat iron 'They are difficult to break down. Their discipline is up, we played a lot of last year's game [a 14-13 win at Croke Park] against 14 men, so we have to keep our discipline and try and be as good as we can.' Discipline is an important word, one that did not assume such significance before Paris. But after Cian Healy's sin-binning and Jerry Flannery's hack on Alexis Palisson that saw a penalty reversed at a critical time, one supposes it has cropped up more regularly in the Irish team room over the past fortnight -- whatever the coach says. 'We talked about it but it was our first time in a while giving away a yellow card,' said Kidney, a shard of defensiveness in his voice.
'There is discipline in terms of the referee, and there is the discipline of keeping your shape.
'We would all the time be harping on both of those, but when you get a card like that you mention it. I don't think it was an intentional reaction. It was something that happened to a young player [Healy].' It barely needs recording that the Irish scrum will have to remain at their full complement and, that being so, they need not unduly fear an English unit who would not feature in a definitive list of their greatest packs.
There is pressure on Donncha O'Callaghan to perform as significantly in the lineout as the deposed Leo Cullen did in Paris, which means great responsibility on Rory Best to ensure his throwing is of good quality.
Steve Borthwick might raise sniggers, but he was excellent against Italy and before that Wales -- should England start troubling Ireland's throw, it could signal the start of a wearying afternoon. Outside of the tight five, David Wallace was the one back-row player who dipped
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