In fairness, Kidney didn't "decide" to play Court at tighthead against England. Mike Ross decided that Court should play tighthead against England by Mike Rossing out when the going got tough... Court was on the bench as the only prop who could, reasonably, play both sides. And frankly, given the other potential options for the bench that day (Buckley, anyone?), Court was the obvious choice. Let's not forget, this was back in the days of 22-men squads, not 23-men ones...
Any time Kidney decided to play Court at tighthead for Ireland, he was generally rewarded - see his performance against New Zealand in the Autumn of 2010, for example. He started that game at three and, in all honesty, did himself proud against the All Blacks. Ironically enough, this is the only time I remember Tom Court playing well for Ireland.
In fact, with the exception of that England game, Court's performances for Ireland are distinctly unmemorable, either for good or for bad. Accordingly, non-Ulster Ireland fans will remember him as they should - a prop whose most noticeable impact on the rugby they support was to get a complete duffing against England. Were it not for this particular duffing, I doubt many would remember much about Court at all. These are not people who watch him play for Ulster at non-international level week-in week-out; they are people who have, intermittently, seen him make no great impact on the international stage. There are many other Irish players who Ulster fans are wrong about, for exactly this reason.
Court has proven himself, time and time again in an Ulster jersey. He's been criticised, at times, on this forum, even in recent years and each time he has been, he's come out on a Friday night and proven his doubters wrong. I will remember his contribution for and to Ulster and it has been a big one, especially given the rather ignominious start he had here.
Good luck to Tom in England.
Let's hope he leaves Ulster with a gold medal to add to his two silvers to date!
