BOD and Kidney satisfied with 6 Nations win

Ireland head coach Declan Kidney and captain Brian O’Driscoll were in good humour as Ireland’s Six Nations campaign got off to a winning start with victory over Italy at Croke Park.

Kidney was happy with the work-rate of his side and in particular the players who were returning from injury.

He said, “I’d like to pay credit to how hard some of the injured guys have been working to get themselves right.

“I think Jerry (Flannery) was motoring well – even after 55 minutes, because of the nature of the injury there was no point in putting him in a place where the muscle was going to fatigue and cramp up.

“Also Rory (Best) more than deserved his chance, because he has done extraordinarily well to get to where he is at. It’s handy to have the two of them.”

Skipper O’Driscoll felt the game was an important opportunity for his side to get some valuable game-time.

“I think it was a good work-out. It’s not easy to just immediately click having only been together for two weeks and not play together since November,” he said.

“By the time we played against South Africa we had been together four weeks. You have to realise that you can’t just turn it on and turn it off – you have to build those things.”

Sportspeak were in Croke Park to get the views of Kidney and O’Driscoll after the game.