While we are all encouraged to dig deep this Friday in aid of ‘Children in Need’, less than twenty-four hours later at Croke Park, the word ‘charity’ needs to be utterly banished as the Ireland rugby team takes on the mighty All Blacks.

While Warren Gatland let loose on his Wales brigade for letting South Africa off the hook, Frank Hadden must have been seething at the toothless display by his Scotland team.

When you play the top sides in the world, you go into the match knowing full well that you cannot afford to gift easy points, otherwise you are on a hiding to nothing.

Just as South Africa took advantage of an intercept pass and a lack of Welsh composure at crucial times, Scotland, through their own basic mistakes, let the game pass them by, allowing New Zealand to win the match without ever having to dig into their reserves.

This will be the first message that Declan Kidney will be giving his men all week – don’t let this Saturday pass you by.

Kidney’s selection has surprised many, for one or several reasons, but, for me, the main message coming through is that Kidney will very much rely on a squad effort in his pursuit to be the first Ireland coach to topple the All Blacks.

He is a wily man and will stress over and over again that it is not about him, rather the players, but nothing would give him more quiet and humble pleasure than to put his own mark in the rugby record books.

Clive Woodward said recently that Martin Johnson’s biggest challenge, as new England coach, is to make the transition from a great player into a chess player.

If the same analogy can be used for the new Ireland coach, it is enough to say that Declan Kidney is already a grandmaster. Either that or he was brought up in Las Vegas - his poker face could flummox the most experienced of players and he might just win the pot by pulling out an ace as his final card.

In Kidney’s selection for this Saturday’s match, even though he starts on the bench, the ace is Stephen Ferris and I fully expect him to come on in place of the joker of the pack, Alan Quinlan.

Kidney has done his homework. Look at Ireland’s recent record against the All Blacks. In far too many of these encounters, Ireland have been right in the match as they go into the last quarter, only to fade away with the recurring feeling of what might have been.

New Zealand’s intensity lasts for eighty minutes and they have an enormously strong bench which not only fortifies the team’s efforts but effectively comes on and does the mopping-up job as the opposition runs out of steam or ideas.

A case in point is New Zealand’s recent victory over Australia, which owed much to the effective use of its substitutes. While Australia have got an excellent starting XV, there is a lack of the same strength in depth.

Now consider the Irish team. Tomas O’Leary at scrum-half is, by far, Kidney’s boldest selection, and on paper, the one gamble, but nonetheless the team looks to have a good balance of grunt and flair.

While Keith Earls had a great debut against Canada, who promised little and delivered even less, Girvan Dempsey offers proven solidity and gives the All Blacks little scope to attack Ireland’s back.

But the most interesting selection is Alan Quinlan to start instead of Stephen Ferris, but here I am purposely using the word ‘instead’ rather than ‘ahead’, as they are different players and offer different things.

There is only one person who can spend more time offside than All Black legend, Richie McCaw, and that is the self-proclaimed saviour of Irish rugby, Alan Quinlan.

He has always been a complete nightmare to play against and I believe that Declan Kidney will tell Quinny that he has got a maximum 60 minutes on the pitch to endear himself to the New Zealand backrow and make a complete pain of himself to everyone else in a black shirt. But then enter the impact substitutes, with Ferris leading the way.

I think that Declan Kidney is reckoning on the fact that his starting XV can lay their bodies on the line and get him to the point of previous matches when Ireland have entered the last twenty minutes with all to play for. He has selected a bench to make a physical impact, particularly up front where Ireland will need it most, especially with Ferris, Flannery and Jennings.

The Ulster backrower has the ability to turn a game through either crushing defence or his ability to carry the ball across the gainline using his footwork and explosive power.

Kidney’s selection is a deliberate one with a particular strategy in mind. Now all he has to do is address the mental side of beating a rugby team that plays on its aura of invincibility. But there is no better man than Kidney to drive away the self-doubt. He has done it before with Munster.

Can Ireland win? George Bernard Shaw found the answer in a question, when he said - You see things, and you say, ‘why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘why not?’