In what has come as a bit of a surprise, Declan Kidney has named an unchanged lineup for this weekends six nations clash in Wales.

Ireland did beat Scotland last time out, however the performance was once again littered with mistakes and underwhelming play.

It's no surprise at all that Ronan O'Gara retains his place after a man of the match performance last week. O'Gara was the new face in the starting fifteen that initially made a difference to the Irish team and injected a bit of vigor in the first half performance.

Kidney isn't looking to inject his team with urgency this week through a new face but has instead taken it on himself to spark some life in his zombie like players.

"Whoever was in on our meeting with Declan last Tuesday wouldn't want to be on the end of a silly penalty this weekend," said Donnacha O'Callaghan.

"Everyone probably knows Declan as a nice man who is really calm and composed. But he let fly on Tuesday. It has been a while since he lost his temper. I can remember one or two with Munster, but it's fair to say he was fairly annoyed. You could see it's the main man calling the shots and guys don't want to reoffend."

Finally, some life in someone from the Irish setup. Kidney's lambasting of his players should have happened after the first game against Italy such are the high standards the Irish team has now set for themselves, standards O'Callaghan referred to also, "In the past when we won the Triple Crown, people would run on to the pitch, lifting the players off it, and you're thinking that if we won a Triple Crown now, they'd probably be giving out to us!"

Maybe this is what the Irish team needed in order to set a fire under their feet. Declan Kidney's nature is that of a calming presence, he does not lose his temper often.

We'll see if it works this weekend.

Ireland team to play Wales in the RBS 6 Nations match in Cardiff on Saturday, kick-off 5pm:

Luke Fitzgerald,
Tommy Bowe,
Brian O'Driscoll,
Gordon D'Arcy,
Keith Earls,
Ronan O'Gara,
Eoin Reddan,

Cian Healy,
Rory Best,
Mike Ross,
Donncha O'Callaghan,
Paul O'Connell,
Sean O'Brien,
David Wallace,
Jamie Heaslip

Replacements: Sean Cronin, Tom Court, Leo Cullen, Denis Leamy, Peter Stringer, Jonathan Sexton, Paddy Wallace

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