Gatland remark angers coach

EDDIE O’SULLIVAN didn’t like Warren Gatland’s recent comment that it was a mistake to give the captaincy to Brian O’Driscoll. O’Sullivan bristled visibly in Edinburgh last night when the matter was raised at the Irish press conference.

He didn’t refer to his predecessor but laid it on the line for all to hear: “I think it’s a silly discussion to have at this point. It might have been worth discussing in October when we appointed him for the Australian game because nobody knew how it would go. But I think the proof of the pudding is in the eating. I don’t want to embarrass the guy, but every time he has played for Ireland, his performance has been world-class. Everyone felt the captaincy might impinge on that, but we’re talking nonsense here. Leave the guy alone. Let him play rugby.”

O’Sullivan, of course, is entitled to be a little bullish now that he has led Ireland to a record seven successive international victories. He, Declan Kidney, Niall O’Donovan, Brian O’Brien and the rest of the backroom team can take a bow and now there’s genuine hope for a really big campaign with Italy and Wales looking relatively easy pickings away from home and France and England due at Lansdowne Road.

“I don’t know anything about records, what I do know is that we wanted to start the Six Nations well,” insisted O’Sullivan. “That would be crucial for us. Murrayfield had never been a happy hunting ground for us and I’m just very relieved and very happy to have got over this hurdle and that we played so well. The team showed a lot of character when Scotland came after us in the second half. Scotland played a lot of good rugby in that spell and had they scored, it would have been a different ball game, but all credit to the boys, they held them out and that was the winning of the game. The scores at the end came a little easily, especially Geordan’s that had a slice of luck, but I don’t think the scoreline reflected the game. It was tighter than that, and had Scotland scored at the right time, it might have been a different game.”

Running up 36 points is obviously very pleasing, but O’Sullivan was also delighted at how well the side defended. He claimed that he wouldn’t have been unduly worried had Scotland scored in the very first minute and went on: “I think the manner in how you concede a score is important. Had they got that try at the start, it would have been no more than a hiccup because it was a block down. The more important thing for us in the first twenty minutes was to control the pace of the game and I think we did that very well. We worked the corners, we kept the ball behind Scotland, made them go back for it, and didn’t allow them to get into a rhythm. That was the first step on the way to winning the game.”

Ireland ran out at Murrayfield fearful that Scotland could outplay them in the set pieces but this was far from the case, allowing the coach to note: “Our lineout in the first half was excellent. We really got the darts right. During that ropey patch in the second half, a few went awry on us but other than that no worries and I was very happy with our scrum.”

Ireland have already switched their focus to Rome next Saturday, only too conscious of Italy’s defeat of Wales on Saturday. Brian O’Driscoll noted that they have an extra day to get over all the inevitable knocks and bruises and revealed: “I saw the second half on television and they were impressive enough.” Eddie O’Sullivan accepted: “They had a good win, it will boost them and they’ll be waiting for us.”