Centres in Pole position to recover in time

NOTHING is left to chance in the modern professional era.

The decision by Eddie O'Sullivan to pack off his star centres, Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy, to a cryotherapy unit in Spala, Poland, for further rehabilitation on their injured hamstrings is conclusive proof that nothing will be left undone in Ireland's bid to end their 57-year drought without a Six Nations grand slam.

Even though O'Sullivan expressed confidence at the weekend that O'Driscoll and D'Arcy would be fit for the clash with England at Lansdowne Road on Sunday week, he is bidding to ensure his confidence is founded on fact.

The Irish squad has used the Spala cure on a couple of occasions in the past and, while few returned home with exactly happy memories of the therapy, most grudgingly conceded it has its advantages.

O'Driscoll and D'Arcy will settle to their Polish task with positive intent under the supervision of IRFU athletic trainer, Brian Green.

It will be Sunday before we have the next update on the fitness of the Leinster duo. Assuming both will be available to face the ailing world champions, O'Sullivan will also be faced with the kind of selection problem he professes to dislike, though he'll perfectly happy to take it on. Kevin Maggs did little wrong against Scotland remember his crushing tackle on Ally Hogg that caused the Scottish back-row to cough up the ball, and led to a try for Denis Hickie.

However, with O'Driscoll and D'Arcy available, Maggs will almost certainly revert to the bench along with Girvan Dempsey with Horgan returning to the wing. However, should O'Driscoll and D'Arcy both miss out, Maggs and Horgan would remain in the centre, leaving O'Sullivan with a decision to make on the No 14 jersey.

It came as a surprise to many that Dempsey was handed the position on Saturday and that O'Sullivan didn't instead send for a number of natural wings such as Shaun Payne, Anthony Horgan and Tommy Bowe, to name but three.

Nonetheless, the biggest dilemma facing the coach is how best to fill the open-side flank position. He has now openly admitted he doesn't believe Johnny O'Connor possesses the physique or reserves of energy to last the full 80 minutes of Test rugby. Accordingly he has replaced a man who many believe will challenge for a Lions Test place during the summer after in each of his three internationals to date. O'Connor is again under pressure for a starting place against the English, not just from Denis Leamy, who got the nod against Italy, but also from Alan Quinlan, to whom O'Sullivan has turned in hours of need in the recent past and for whose all-round talents he has considerable respect.

Being the workaholic he is, Eddie will pore over videos both of his own team's performances and also those of his next two opponents. England are reeling after their losses to Wales and in the words of a cross-channel broadsheet yesterday "to one of the worst French teams in living memory."

However, anybody believing that England will be a soft touch come Sunday week is a completely divorced from reality.

True, all hopes of a return by Jonny Wilkinson have passed and they just don't seem to know what they're doing at half-back and midfield. It's been a nightmarish week for coach Andy Robinson. He faces a difficult task in regrouping for Dublin where a third successive defeat would be viewed as a national disaster. Nevertheless, England possess forwards of the necessary calibre to hurt Ireland in the front (Julian White and Phil Vickery) and back (Martin Corry and Lewis Moody) rows of the scrum.

Moreover, had Olly Barkley and Charlie Hodgson converted place-kicking opportunities on Sunday, they would have won comfortably. Like England, France are in transition, although the entire rugby world wants to know why Bernard Laporte is sticking with the ageing, out of touch Yann Delaigue and leaving the youthful and effervescent Frederic Michalak on the bench. True, Michalak is a flaky kind of player, a remark that also applies to Dmitri Yachvilli, Sunday's matchwinner with his six out of eight penalty shots.

While Eddie O'Sullivan has every good reason to be delighted with the progress of his Irish side, he must be a lot less sanguine at the direction the Lions Test XV for New Zealand is shaping up. One dislikes adopting a parochial attitude, but fact is that numerous Irishmen are seriously strong contenders at present. Geordan Murphy, Brian O'Driscoll, Ronan O'Gara, Paul O'Connell and Malcolm O'Kelly would be in most sides, with genuine claims to be made for Denis Hickie, Gordon D'Arcy, Peter Stringer, John Hayes and Anthony Foley.