Dave Kilcoyne eyes England role for Ryan Baird as he believes the ‘great talent’ has the X factor

Ryan Baird of Ireland is tackled by Jamie Bhatti of Scotland during the Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship Murrayfield Stadium. Photo: Paul Devlin/Sportsfile

David Kelly Twitter Email

March 16 2021 02:30 AM

Ireland's bench players made the decisive impact to rescue Ireland against Murrayfield – and with James Ryan suffering a second game-ending head injury in this campaign, one of them, Ryan Baird, has been hailed as a potential starter against England by fellow sub Dave Kilcoyne.

Andy Farrell may decide to restore Peter O’Mahony to his side and shift Tadhg Beirne to the second-row, although that would seem unnecessarily disruptive.

But Kilcoyne has seen enough from Baird to believe he can cope with the pressure of a challenge against England, with many also tipping him for a role as a bolter on this summer’s Lions series.

“Ryan Baird comes on, pulls off a great block down which just shows the great talent he has,” said Kilcoyne. “We all know what Ryan Baird is capable of. Fortunately for us, and it’s a tough headache for the coaches, but when you see a player like Ryan Baird coming on, he’s got real X factor.

Dave Kilcoyne still believes that Ireland can finish second in the Six Nations. Photo: Roberto Bregani/Sportsfile

“Whereas James is an incredible player as well, Ryan probably is a little bit different.

“He plays more like a wing or a back-row and he is capable of a few things that most of us forwards aren’t. To see him coming on was great, and he’ll take great confidence from his impact.

“I’d have no worries with him starting against England. If you’re good enough, you’re old enough in this game. We’d have no qualms about him starting.”

Kilcoyne may be pushing for a start himself given the tight time between games.

“Whatever the coaches need from me for that last weekend, then that’s my role.

“I think there is excellent competition in the squad. You’ve seen how well Andrew Porter has been playing and Tadhg Furlong comes back and plays like that.

“You see how well Rob Herring is playing and then Rónan Kelleher comes on and plays well. Cian has been playing very well as well, so there is competition right across the front-row and right across the pack.

“England are on the back of a big win. I think it’s been quite tight, bar Italy, all the games right through – it just shows the level of competition has gone up, so we’d really want to be on our ‘A’ game against England.

“You set out your goals at the start, to win the Six Nations. That’s not possible now but if we can get second we’ll go gung-ho for that. We’ll regroup and come up with a plan to tackle England.”