Declan Kidney has finally seen sense (but, I think it was injury forced!) and dropped Tomás O'Leary. But (and it's a big BUT!) he's dropped Jonny Sexton! WHAT?!!!
Kidney eventually gets around to dropping O'Leary to get quicker ball from the breakdown and then drops the best out-half we have at unleashing the backline. It just doesn't make sense.
Ronan O'Gara has been pushing hard to get a start, but Sexton hasn't been given the chance to play off a quicker scrum-half. I think he played with Eoin Reddan for 4 minutes against Italy. If Ireland want to embrace a running game Kidney and co. are going the wrong way about it.
Can you see O'Gara running for a wrap around to create gaps for the outside backs? No. And it's because it isn't the way he plays the game. He plays the territorial game beautifully, but he can't unlock defences in the same way as Sexton.
If Dan Parks starts for Scotland on Sunday we could be in for a giant game of tennis! The way Ireland's line out has been functioning lately doesn't fill me with great confidence for playing a percentage game. Scotland's pack are huge and they'll be happy to go from set piece to set piece and try to grind out a victory. We got dragged into this kind of game against Italy and I hope that it doesn't happen again.
On another note, dropping Fergus McFadden from the 22 is another decision that confuses me. He has done nothing wrong and deserves to be in the 22 at the expense of Paddy Wallace. He can cover more positions than Wallace and could be employed as a place kicker if needed.
I'm starting to get the feeling that Kidney and co. don't know what kind of game they want to play and which people they really need to apply it.