O'Sullivan demands Ireland turn up the heat

IT will be icy cold, a 60-kilometre northerly wind that will sweep down the pitch from the Havelock Square end and there could even be a few snow showers.

But Irish coach Eddie O'Sullivan is demanding a performance of style and quality against Romania at Lansdowne Road today (12.30pm) following the flops to both New Zealand and Australia over the past fortnight.

The Romanians arrived in Dublin on the back of a 22-20 victory over Canada in Bucharest last week. It's not a result that will have the rugby world shaking in its boots but at least it demonstrates "The Oaks", as they are now being called, have progressed from the days when they were among the game's whipping boys.

England beat them 134-0 at Twickenham. All eight members of their unchanged pack this afternoon play their club rugby in France and they will match Ireland, if not actually outstrip them, for weight and height. It was their bulk and physical strength as much as their mauling expertise that enabled them to force a last minute converted try by Alexander Mantru that pipped the Canadians seven days ago.

Mantru, who lines out with Pau, is one of at least four familiar names in the Romanian pack. Ovidiu Tonita at number seven and hooker Marius Tincu are regulars in the Perpignan pack and prop Petru Balan is a leading member of the powerful Biarritz eight.

Mick O'Driscoll, who played for Perpignan for the past few years and sits on the Irish bench this afternoon, has been giving the low down on the French-based players to O'Sullivan. It's just as well, perhaps, as the coach has been unable to lay his hands on a video from the game against Canada.

"I am relying essentially on footage of their games last summer against Japan and Scotland along with what Micko has been telling us," said O'Sullivan last night. "With the weather the way it is, I know the game will be played at close quarters with a lot of hand to hand stuff. Of course it's a cliche but it will almost certainly be a game of two halves. I stood out there this morning and the wind was blowing straight down the pitch from the north terrace."

O'Sullivan is more than anxious to see his team not only win convincingly but to do so with a display of bright, refreshing rugby, something they have palpably failed to deliver over the past fortnight or so.

He accepts the situation philosophically, simply commenting: "We must keep plugging away. This is a different team and a different day because of the wind. Then there's the kick-off time. We'd usually have breakfast and a light lunch, now it will only be breakfast. There's nothing we can do about that, it's all decided at television level."

John Hayes has lost his place in the Irish front-row, where Shane Byrne is distinctly fortunate to hold on in the face of the challenge from the younger and more dynamic Jerry Flannery. So it's to be expected that O'Sullivan has concerns about how his unit of Marcus Horan, Byrne and Simon Best copes with the potentially powerful Romanian trio of Balan, Tincu and Brive's Pepe Toderasc.

Skipper Sorin Socol of Agen could also make life difficult for Donncha O'Callaghan and the recalled Leo Cullen in the second-row area so O'Sullivan's apprehension about this all-important sector is readily understood.

"The team we have picked is geared to win first and foremost and I want a lot of improvement, I want them to play with style and quality that would make up for what we've seen over the past two weeks."

O'Sullivan will doubtless have his wish granted. Whether he deserves it or not is another matter. The retention of Byrne at hooker and the inclusion of David Humphreys at out-half and his installation as captain are hardly forward thinking decisions.

They are aged 33 and 34 respectively and not likely to be around as a meaningful force at the 2007 World Cup. Geordan Murphy, likewise, is lucky to hold on at full-back. Surely this was the kind of game in which to look at promising material such as Leinster full-back/winger Robert Kearney and their promising number eight Jamie Heaslip? A whole raft of Ulstermen yet to achieve anything on a grand scale have been called up, yet there isn't even discussion of people like David Wallace, not to mention Anthony Foley who, at 32 is now apparently deemed to be too old, unlike others.

Anything other than a clear cut defeat of Romanian will leave a lot of Irish rugby fans very unhappy indeed.