Having “enjoyed” his Munster sojourn for a year Jean de Villiers has decided that his priority is to regain his South African jersey in advance of the next world cup. Understandable, given his country’s reasonable hope of success in New Zealand; the chance of having two winners medals must have been one that he had to take. Although the important part of Munster’s season is still to come, it is fair to say that his impact in Limerick has not been huge; certainly not as huge as the price tag might have indicated it should be. And he leaves Munster in the state they were in last year, without a partner for the further diminished Lefemi Mafi.

Reports suggest that Rickey Flutey is being approached to come in as a replacement. While Flutey has the game to improve Munsters backline Munster must look past their own aspirations and provide the opportunity for the next Keith Earls to come through. Rugby, more than any other sport, has a habit of turning out remarkable talent once that talent is exposed. Take Johnny Sexton as a prime example; I have absolutely no doubt that Sexton would have continued to languish behind Felipe Contepomi had the Argentinean not been injured in last years Heinekin Cup semi-final and had he not already decided to ply his trade elsewhere. Who knows how many more Sextons or Earls there are, just waiting for the exposure.

The IRFU who stand head and shoulders above any other sports administrative body on these islands need to push their interest to the forefront here and not allow money and exposure to be lost to help other countries succeed in New Zealand. They must cap even tighter the spend and number of players that play with our provinces from overseas, especially in key positions.

I get it that Paris is not an easy place to go and win a rugby game. I understand that, on their day, France can beat any other team in world rugby, and beat them going away. But last Saturday’s mauling in the Six Nations championship was about two things for me; the incredible physical performance of a dominant French side and the inordinate amount of coverage given to the fact that Ireland never do well in Paris. No point in dwelling on the first, there’s going to be days when you’re second best. But there’s every reason to focus on the second.

Does any other six nations team fear Paris nearly as much as Ireland? Take Scotland. I realise that they’re struggling to win a game anywhere, but is Paris any more daunting to them than say London, Dublin or Cardiff? They don’t talk about it if it is, but the likelihood is that it isn’t. Wales and England, with their pedigree and despite their inferior squad to Ireland travel to Paris every other year more in expectation than hope. Why shouldn’t they? It’s another game against a decent side, just like last week, just like next week.

What is it then that has the entire press corp, if not the squad itself, squirming in anticipation at having to face the French away from Dublin? Why is it that we can say with some certainty right now, that we’ll have a better chance of winning the championship in three years time, when we have to travel to three away games, than we will in four years when we have only two trips?

I remember travelling with little or no hope to Munster football finals every year for ten years from the mid seventies, knowing that Cork had as good a team as Kerry. You just felt that we just weren’t going to win and so it turned out, year after year. As Cork supporters we knew to a man that we’d have to be two goals better than Kerry to beat them by a point. I watched some of the best footballers of their generation grow old on one game a year. The trip to France every two years has that same inevitable feeling.

It will be a shame if O’Connell, Wallace and some of the other Irish players, currently at their career peak, end it without having tasted a Parisian victory. It’ll be an even bigger shame if Earls, Kearney and Heaslip have to contend with the same historical burden every other year.

1984 saw the end of the Cardiff hoodoo and we haven’t looked back since.  One hopes that the Paris trip becomes like the Cardiff one, holding no more fear for us than any other venue.

Anyone that has closely follows Declan Kidney’s managerial career knows that he doesn’t do “change” just for the sake of short term gain. Much like Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, he has an incredible sense of timing when it comes to deciding when a player is ready and when a regular needs to stand aside.  As an example, few saw the transition from Stringer to O’Leary in the Munster set-up as the right thing to do when it happened. With hindsight it looks like the work of a sage.

Including Sexton in Saturday’s starting line-up against the World and Tri Nations Champions is more than an acknowledgment of form. It’s Kidney’s signature move on the Autumn Series. It’s a statement of intent. We’re calling the shots, we’re upping the ante, we’re making the move, you react. We abandoned the combination of Garryowens and “abrasiveness” we were known for when the current current golden crop of players first started and the advent of the professional era saw the end of Irish sides that would die with ten minutes to go. Now we’re one step further on; we have options, and visiting teams, even the World Champions, need a serious analysis of what we’ll bring at 2:30 next Saturday. Chances are they won’t be quite sure until they experience it firsthand.

This move is also another step in the true development of a Irish squad that will eventually be in a position to overcome any injury, regardless of position. Ireland will soon be able to comfortably play any game that is necessary from a tight controlled encounter to an all out slugfest; both on the same day if necessary, preferably by the same players.

Whether or not Sexton is a success on Saturday is almost a side issue. What matters now is that we have a new seam of players who are willing, ready and able to bring something different. Exciting times lie ahead.

My mind goes back to early July. The Kerry footballers were struggling against a variety of seemingly journeymen teams. Longford, Sligo and Antrim were all in turn just minutes from ending a miserable season for the Kingdom. They were tired and stale, apparently, some were justifiably claiming that they were a spent force.  As a Corkman I was just hoping they would survive long enough for us to “do” them for a third time in the championship. They survived, unfortunately.

Kerry have proven yet again, if proof were needed, that the better teams do whatever is needed to get to the dance, then they dance. There’s little point in playing your best games on the way to the final if it gets you nothing more than the team you are facing. In this modern age of professional sports a sustained momentum cannot be maintained for months. Form dips, players tire and perhaps most importantly the wisest of managers know when their teams need to peak.

Joe Girardi, manager of the new World Series Champion New York Yankees, when asked if he was confident about his team being so much better than their opponents in advance of the final remarked that it wasn’t the team who played best all year that would win, but the team who played best in October. Alex Ferguson has said on many occasions that all he wants from the first six months of the season is for his team to just get themselves into position in March, knowing that this is when the real title race begins. Conversely, Graham Henry knows what being the best team in world rugby for three years leading up to the last World Cup got New Zealand; nothing.

» Read more: Judge Munster's season in May, not November