SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP:YOU WOULDN'T want to have a limp in this Ireland squad. Although he had been the resident number 15 for the last two seasons and only missed one match, Rob Kearney has to console himself with a place on the bench as Geordan Murphy retains his place in Ireland's first unchanged line-up for over a year.

Coming after the excellent win at Twickenham, that was as understandable as it was predictable. Thanks to the misfortune which befell both Kearney and, of course, Luke Fitzgerald, opportunity knocks now for Murphy to kickstart an Indian summer to his Test career. Given plenty of misfortune has also befallen this world-class operator over the years, including a five-month absence prior to starting three games over the last three weekends, Murphy deserves his chance following his smooth, near flawless display against England.

In a way, too, it might do Kearney no harm to regain his stunning form of last season and last summer, and thereby regain his place. Andrew Trimble unluckily misses out, which, not unreasonably, suggests the management don’t want Keith Earls also covering fullback as well as midfield.

Kidney hasn’t had the luxury of announcing an unchanged side since the same 15 started the first three games of last season’s Grand Slam march against France, Italy and England, which itself was, remarkably, a first for Irish rugby since Tommy Kiernan did likewise in 1983.

Perhaps, coupled with Paul O’Connell’s revealing remarks on Monday, this also signifies that Ireland intend to what they do best, as they did in Twickenham, and not put the cart before the horse to some extent, as they did in Paris.

“I don’t think there’s any exact science on it, about trying to learn things about yourselves as a team. There’s a lot of lads looking to come in that I would love to see playing as well but you have to try and balance that with a little bit of cohesiveness,” explained Kidney.

“They had the run of it the last day against England but if you look at the possession stakes, we didn’t have a whole lot of the ball. If we have more defence will we be as cohesive as were in defence the last day? Because we’re going to have to back that up against Wales – sometimes they can be more dangerous when we have the ball.”

“If you break down their counter (attack), it is exceptionally good and yet we have to have the option to go out and play as well then too.

“So, I just felt that on the balance of things we would give that little bit of cohesiveness that we built up in the last game another run this time, that’s why we left it the same.”

Indeed, the need for concentration will be more acute than it even was, with England enjoying 60 per cent of the possession. Wales tend not to let their opponents settle into a defensive groove, cleverly changing tack at half-time against France with grubbers and chips behind the advancing blue line, and they can be particularly dangerous off turnovers and in broken play.

“I think it will be a lot more like the French game that we played,” suggested Kidney, “whereby little errors where we’re not communicating out on the pitch – if our defensive line isn’t right – they will exploit that. I’ve done a little bit of my maths and they (Wales) are scoring a lot of points this season, they are scoring more than we are over the three matches. That means we have to try and tighten up in defence and try to be as good as we have been in attack.”

“The thing I admire (about Wales), and I admire it in all teams,” added Kidney “is that they are playing to the 80th minute. They played to the 80th minute last year; had that kick gone over we would have finished the championship on eight points each. We would have won the championship on points difference. When they were over two years earlier they managed to put one over on us here at Croke Park. I read it doesn’t hold any fear for them and all those are challenges we have to face.”

This game, of course, is given added resonance in that some bloke called Brian in the number 13 jersey will be leading Ireland for the 63rd time in also reaching his century of caps for Ireland. As near to a complete player as Ireland has ever produced, as try-scorer, creator, preventer and team leader, no one has set higher standards throughout their career. Having reinvented himself after the relative post-2007 World Cup trough, O’Driscoll is also relentlessly driven, while tough and durable to boot, and given he also puts his body on the line to a degree at times bordering on kamikaze, to reach a century is all the more praiseworthy.

With the great man sitting alongside him it was a little awkward for Kidney to pay due tribute to O’Driscoll on reaching this landmark. “I know Brian a few years now and, you try and say something that hasn’t been said before.”

Though you’d struggle to run out of superlatives for O’Driscoll at least, for a few seconds, Kidney knew how it felt for those of us asking the questions yesterday.

“He’s the consummate professional, the way he goes about his work, he trains hard, he is enjoying his rugby – any time you see him doing that it’s a good place to be. He’s brought that mixture and he’s achieved a lot of the honours in the game and you don’t do that unless you’re a good player.”

And, as he would later suggest, the landmark will mean little or nothing to O’Driscoll unless Ireland win.