O’Sullivan awaits injury assessment

ON this occasion, no news is not necessarily good news. The extent of Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy’s hamstring injuries will not be made public until today’s team announcement for Saturday’s trip to Scotland, but the indications are not positive.

The international centres limped back into Dublin last night and headed straight to the Blackrock Clinic for medical scans on their respective injuries.

It appears nigh impossible that either could feature at Murrayfield, leaving coach Eddie O’Sullivan with a major selection headache.

There are growing concerns that O’Driscoll and D’Arcy will miss most of the championship.

While O’Sullivan took some heart from the fact that his midfield maestros walked, rather than hobbled, onto the return flight from Rome yesterday, he is acutely aware that where hamstrings are concerned, there are no quick fixes.

A source close to O’Driscoll suggested a three-week absence was the best case scenario.

If both are ruled out, the Irish coach may go with a tighter partnership of Kevin Maggs and Shane Horgan, with the possibility of introducing Shaun Payne as outside centre, with either Horgan or Maggs.

He might also consider moving Geordan Murphy from full-back.

Murphy said yesterday that D’Arcy believed after the game in Rome that he could make Murrayfield, but that optimism receded last night.

Said the coach on Sunday night: “I think Gordon will be under pressure for next week because he pulled up at full tilt and probably did a bit of damage. Brian was in a ruck at the end, got hit from behind and was trapped on the floor in the splits position.”

If O’Driscoll is sidelined, then Munster lock Paul O’Connell will lead the side against Scotland.

One of his predecessors, Keith Wood, fears that the absence of O’Driscoll and D’Arcy will even the scales at Murrayfield.

“If you were to take the Rome performance in isolation, you would say Ireland would not have a chance of the championship now but after the performances and results of the other teams, they’re still right in there.

“However, it’s going to be hard now because a lot could depend on whether the two lads are fit. The Scots were always going to be tough opponents, but if they perform in the same fashion as they did against France, it will put some real pressure on Ireland.”

Wood added: “They kept France out of the game and if they can do that again it will certainly make it a lot tougher.”

If O’Sullivan is looking for perspective from Sunday’s struggle, he may find it in the comments of Italian captain, Marco Bortolami, who described the home display as “our best ever”.

“There were a few mistakes and we are disappointed with the outcome but we fought for the full 80 minutes as we promised to do and did not make anything easy for them. We also managed to stay disciplined.”

Former skipper Alessandro Troncon, a veteran of 85 caps, added: “Everyone is surprised that we pushed Ireland so close, but we went out there from the start believing we could win.

“We watched the video today (Monday) and we are disappointed at how we lost. We made a few simple errors and dealt with a few situations wrongly, which is a shame. With a bit of luck on our side, we may well have been able to win it. I thought our back play was much improved but we made a few defensive errors which cost us in the end. We will look to rectify them for the next game.

“There were a few critical moments in the game,” added Troncon.

“We lost our own line-out which they eventually went on to score from, and then of course there were the missed penalty kicks. What gives us the most confidence though is we had the larger percentage of territory and possession and we are feeling very confident going into the Wales game.”