So says Keith Wood, speaking about Anthony Foley in Brendan Fanning’s wonderful, insightful, rugby book ‘From There To Here’.

Anthony Foley must have had deep feelings of frustration as he sat, well wrapped up, on the replacement bench at wind and rain swept Musgrave Park last Friday night.

However, coach Declan Kidney decided to play young Donnacha Ryan on the flank and leave ‘Axel’ on the bench.

Now, Donnacha had been man of the match the previous week but he is essentially a second row and should have been selected in that position with O’Driscoll and O’Callaghan left to fight for the other second row place beside him.

Musgrave Park was sold out last Friday night but the weather was appalling. The worst night of the year, with the rain bucketing down and the cold wind making it very uncomfortable for players and fans alike, it was, as Frankie O’Flynn said, “A great night for a Frankenstein movie.”

It was a night, though, crying out for a level and shrewd head in the Munster back row, and for playing wet weather tactics. Munster teams of old wrote the blueprint for these tactics.

Last week I spoke in glowing terms about Ronan O’Gara and Tony Ward said he was the top out-half in World rugby to play the percentage game.

Ronan had a miserable game against Leinster and his mood became darker as the weather closed in. He kicked badly out of hand and tried to move the ball in the backs when the Garryowen, grubber, or long kicks to the corner were called for.

When the number 10 has an off night like that he needs a guiding influence on the pitch but that man was sitting on the bench and remained there for the entire match, surplus to requirements.

In this professional age of rugby, there surely is a case of picking ‘horses for courses’. When the going is soft, Foley is the man for the job. When the going is hard to firm, then pick your fast man.

Declan Kidney will have a lot of soul-searching to do before he picks his team to play Llanelli in the Heineken Cup.