Captain gives fans hype warning

IRISH captain Brian O'Driscoll issued a hype warning to the nation's rugby fans last night amid fears that expectations for Saturday's Six Nations clash with France are spiralling out of control.

"People are getting ahead of themselves. Have they forgotten that France won the Grand Slam last year, that they just put 38 points on Scotland last week? Do we not know that they're a good side, with the potential to be a fantastic side? To be honest, public perception, or media perception, isn't anything like the perception of the 22 in the squad, and our management. We all know how hard it's going to be." Keeping their feet very firmly on the ground isn't that difficult for either O'Driscoll or his team-mates, courtesy of a 40-point drubbing in Paris last season.

"There's been some serious ups and some terrible downs against France and I've known both sides of the coin. Last year was pretty humiliating, and that should be reminder enough to keep yourself focused. They were brilliant that day, I think we did very well to keep the scoreline to what it was. Only some last-ditch tackles prevented tries on a couple of occasions."