O’Gara hopes to make club comeback
O'Gara, ruled out of Ireland's last two victories over Scotland and Italy, believes he has a reasonable chance of making his comeback this weekend for his club. O'Gara said yesterday that the damaged ankle felt much better but stressed: "I won't rush it. I know I have to make sure that this injury clears up fully before making my return. Last week it wasn't great but it now feels much better. I'll monitor the situation and join up with the Irish squad for training later this week but again, I will not rush into coming back too soon," he said.
O'Gara's Munster colleague Paul O'Connell has targeted Ireland' fourth Six Nations clash against Wales for his return. The second row has been given the all-clear to make a return (after breaking a thumb) the weekend after next, the same weekend that Ireland play France. Given his lack of match fitness, he has little or no chance of making the Irish side for the clash at Lansdowne Road but an outside one of figuring in the A squad that weekend. Meanwhile, French manager Jo Maso has paid Ireland's back division the ultimate compliment "you're better than England."
Maso, who won 25 caps at centre for the Tricolors, believes the likes of Brian O'Driscoll and David Humphreys, Denis Hickie and Geordan Murphy are one of the most impressive attacking units in world rugby. And though the French will travel to Dublin with justified confidence,
Maso will blast a warning to his players ahead of the March 8 showdown at Lansdowne Road.
"It's going to be a huge challenge for us the second of our two 'big' games this season. It is through these matches against England and Ireland that we will be able to assess ourselves and see if we have evolved in the last two years. Ireland will be seeking revenge after losing by 40 points to us last year, so they will certainly want to show that they are capable of beating us, especially eight months ahead of the World Cup where we could meet each other at the quarter-final stage.
"We have a huge amount of respect for the Irish team. They are full of talented players. Keith Wood is the symbol of the Irish side, although he hasn't played the last two games and the back division is sprinkled with talent. David Humphreys has confirmed himself as the pilot of the team in the last two games, although Ronan O'Gara, too, is a great player. And then they have O'Driscoll, probably the best centre in the world at the moment.
"They are also very good in the lineout and the scrum. Despite the recent retirement of Peter Clohessy, the next generation of props have done a good job in his absence.
"There really aren't many weaknesses in the side the quality of Peter Stringer's pass is sublime and the Irish back division is more creative than it ever been.
"The players complement each other superbly between the strengths of Hickie, which we knew about but also Murphy who has been outstanding.
"They now have a level of creativity that they didn't have before. We say that the Irish are the people that are most like the French out of the British and Irish nations I think they also now have a style of play that reflects ours. They have a whole array of back line moves which means that if we don't perform really well in the set-piece, we will have problems.
"Certainly, the Ireland backline is more threatening than the England line. England rely on Jonny Wilkinson's boot and the legs of Robinson and Cohen more individual talents, whereas as a unit, the Irish backs are more dangerous. Their sense of attack is greater and they are unselfish in their work. For instance, O'Driscoll did all the work of a great centre on Saturday, before serving Geordan Murphy for his try. Against Italy, Ireland scored five tries in five different ways that is the mark of great class.
"I think it will be a great game because we too have a quality back line - we have speed and we have seen recently that Poitrenaud has started attack through the line more and to have someone of Thomas Castaignède's quality in our reserve, that says a lot about the quality of our backs, too.
* Irish captain Brian O'Driscoll fuelled the row over the ball used in Rome on Saturday, but maintained last night: "It was pretty awful.
"It was very difficult to handle at times. It was too light and any kind of a whiff of wind and it changed direction. We had players who would normally not make certain errors, but they kept making mistakes, and I put that down to this different type of ball.
"Certainly you have to ask questions about it."
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