Ireland head coach Declan Kidney have decided against making wholesale changes ahead of this weekend's crunch game against France. The only change made by the Irish will be the return of Jamie Heaslip at number eight, the Leinsterman has managed to shake off his troublesome ankle. The return of Heaslip means Sean O'Brien will revert to blindside flanker, forcing Denis Leamy to start from the bench.
Ireland were disappointing in their opening game of this year's Six Nations tournament, narrowly beating Italy 13-11, courtesy of Ronan O'Gara's late drop-goal and the 6 Nations odds suggested the win should have been much more comfortable. The experienced fly-half will continue from the bench with Jonathan Sexton starting at 10 once again. There had been calls for Tomas O'Leary to be dropped at scrum-half but Kidney has kept faith with the Munsterman despite a poor showing in Rome.
Kidney has stood firm in the aftermath of the disappointment from last weekend amid plenty of calls for the coach to ring the changes to his team. The pressure will now be on his side to back his decision with a good showing in front of their home fans this weekend. If the Irish have any plans of reclaiming the Six Nations trophy from the French then they will need to come out of this weekend's match with a win.
If Ireland can pick up a win this weekend then they would be right back in the grand slam race with current favourites England. A defeat in Dublin this weekend would send them to Murrayfield in their next round in a very vulnerable position against a much-improved Scotland side and questions over Kidney's decision making would inevitably arrive in abundance.
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