I’ve had this in my head for the last few weeks but had forgotten about it until I was subtly reminded by someone on Monday night.
I have to apologise to Brian O’ Driscoll, And I mean it.
I have been saying for quite some time that he needed to be dropped for a game or two, and I meant it at the time. I thought that it was the only thing that would bring back the hunger for the game that he appeared to have lost over the last couple of years. I was wrong. Obviously there was another way to deal with this and Declan Kidney seems to have found it. That’s why he is the coach and not me or anyone else.
There has been a massive change in our Captain over the last few months, A reinvention. His game has improved, his agility is back, his step has returned, the hunger is back, he is leading from the front the way he used to be. The difference seems to be the new manager, and I think that he has to be commended for his work in turning this “Golden era crew” back into a team rather than the traditional back-line from Leinster and the half-backs and Forwards of Munster with the odd Ulsterman stuck in for effect.
Whatever fears anyone may have had about the ability of Declan Kidney to get the Leinster backs to work with him have now been put squarely where they belong, consigned to the skip.It is now team Ireland and thank god for that.
The only question that remains is why it took so long, but that’s in the past, we move on.
Good luck to all this weekend, as Hooky said last weekend “A grand slam is this teams destiny.”