IRELAND COACH DECLAN Kidney says his team selection for Saturday’s Six Nations clash with Wales reflects a confidence in his team’s ability.

Kidney has lost each of his last three meetings with the reigning European champions, and the most recent of these was the reverse fixture last season.

Then, winger George North’s physical prowess proved too much to handle. Yet Kidney has put trust in Simon Zebo and Craig Gilroy, wingers who could be viewed as slight in comparison to North – or Andrew Trimble and Fergus McFadden, who were left out of the match-day squad.

Kidney, however, expressed a belief that Gilroy’s “leap” along with Zebo’s own physicality would prove defensively sound, but stressed that his team was picked with Ireland’s own strengths in mind, not the Welsh threat.

“If I had picked players that were the same size as them – it would just have been to counteract what they have.” said the head coach, and when asked if the focus was on Ireland’s own game-plan, he confirmed:

“That’s the way it always has to be. You have to have enough confidence in yourself to go out and do that.”

The key, Kidney says, is ensuring that Ireland play to the standard they are capable of.

“I think any time we play to our potential we can take on anybody world. But we have to do that.

“And you have to take a look at who we’re playing. We’re taking on the reigning champions in their back yard first game up. When you go into any competition that’s as tough a game as you can get.

Potential

“But it is up to us to play to our potential to do that. If they get the better of us we’ll shake their hand, but our job is to play as close to our potential as we can which is never an easy task.”

Wales will be in the same boat, but will have the added pressure of avoiding an eight-game losing run.

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