Irish coach Declan Kidney defends half-back selection
Ireland coach Declan Kidney has defended his half-back pairing of Jonathan Sexton and Eoin Reddan.
The two Leinster players will start against New Zealand on Saturday 20 November, despite their poor performance in Ireland’s 23-21 defeat to South Africa.
The Munster duo of Peter Stringer and Ronan O’Gara will feel unlucky that they have missed out on an opportunity to take on the All Blacks, especially after they performed so well.
O’Gara and Stringer were influential in Ireland’s fight back against South Africa when they were introduced in the second half as substitutes, with Munster out-half O’Gara scoring 15 points in Ireland’s 20-10 win over Samoa.
However, Kidney stood over his decision to play Sexton and Reddan in a team that has only one change from the side that were defeated by the Springboks (Ulster prop Tom Court will come in for Tony Buckley).
Speaking at a press conference, Kidney said, "There were some difficult decisions because we made a lot of changes for last week (against Samoa), but we always said we wanted to build a panel. We looked at it individually and collectively, and by and large,
it's the same team that went out against South Africa, except Tom is in and gets his opportunity."
Kidney resisted pressure to break up Leinster’s partnership and the coach defended his selection policy to stick with Reddan over Stringer, despite his poor form.
"Jonathan and Peter is a combination that hasn’t had time yet, but there are lots of combinations I’d like to try.
"Unfortunately, international rugby doesn’t allow you to do a lot of experimentation. We’ve done some of it. Peter has 93 caps, so I know what he brings to the table. Now it’s time to find out new things."
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