Onward Ireland’s soldiers

IRELAND coach Eddie O’Sullivan is looking forward to a few days’ rest and recreation at home in Galway towards the end of the week. However, he’d better keep the tablets handy.

It emerged yesterday that Shane Horgan is a doubt for the French game on Saturday week with a sprained thumb, and even though Gordon D’Arcy took part in the “warm down” after Sunday’s game, there is still no guarantee that he will be able to resume against the French.

Ideally, he would like to turn out for Leinster in their Celtic League clash with the Neath-Swansea Ospreys next weekend as he hasn’t had a game since leaving the pitch after 25 minutes against Italy on February 6.

It is doubtful, however, if O’Sullivan would take such a risk with the 2004 player of the year. Horgan had his thumb examined yesterday and the Irish management hope to issue a statement about the extent of the damage today.

Anybody watching France in the first-half of Saturday’s game against Wales would have feared for Ireland’s chances, even at Lansdowne Road.

They were fast, exciting, physical, innovative, all the things we love and admire about French rugby.

But a Welsh side inspired by the magnificent Martin Williams and will-o’-the-wisp Shane Williams shook them to the core in a second-half turnaround. Not for the first time, the French come to Dublin as an unpredictable commodity.

“France were shell-shocked in that at half-time they must have felt they were going to win that game by 20 points,” O’Sullivan said yesterday.

“But you have to give credit to Wales. I don’t know of many teams who could have sustained that kind of pressure and gone in at half-time within strike range. It was a phenomenal defensive performance. Then they got the breaks and shell-shocked France by taking two tries.”

All of which caused O’Sullivan to ponder on which French team will turn up in Dublin.

“Will they be more galvanised by losing that game, will they come with a different team? We’ve got to be ready to play them. They showed incredible skill and power on Saturday. They’ve got amazing pace in the backs ... big strong men.

“It’s another day’s work that has to be done but we’re looking forward to it after beating England. But we’re also looking forward to the break. It’s been a long week, a hard week, but when you win these games there’s a great sense of satisfaction for everybody involved, not just the players and myself but the staff also.

“They worked tirelessly, the medics and the fitness people who got Brian O’Driscoll back on the field against England. Obviously, Mike Ford must get a mention for again delivering a defensive performance like that.

“The guys really believe in what we’re doing. If you go back two or three years, we wouldn’t have won that game, no more than those in the autumn. We would have leaked a try or two at some juncture and the game would have slipped away. I have to take my hat off to everybody.

“Once again Niallo’s (O’Donovan) line-out is as good as there is in the world and we delivered some good quality possession for the backs.”

O’Sullivan’s influence is now total and becoming more apparent. After the warm-up on Sunday, he marched ahead of them from the far corner of the pitch at the Havelock Square end all the way to the tunnel, graphically getting across the message that this was a united Irish side, from the coach down to the guys on the bench, and that the opposition better beware.

It was a bold move and gave cause for one or two cynics in the press box to use words such as ‘dictator’.

However, everything O’Sullivan does seemingly turns to gold and while Ireland reel off win after win, Irish people should be the last to complain.

O’Sullivan is, in fact, rapidly emerging as the greatest of all Irish coaches while already installed as the most successful. His side is now rated the fourth best in the world, some achievement by any standards. His attention to detail holds all around him in awe and is one of the chief reasons why the players have so much respect for their boss.

As he points out, the back-up team are tuned to his wavelength.

While the anthems were playing on Sunday, masseur Willie Bennett was seen feverishly working on the hamstring injury that had caused skipper Brian O’Driscoll to miss the Scottish game.

A small detail, perhaps, but when all are joined together, they amount to a very great deal.

While his English counterpart Andy Robinson was firing bullets all over Lansdowne Road - most of them directed at the South African referee Jonathan Kaplan - O’Sullivan was cool and calm, gently rubbishing claims the man with the whistle had been the architect of the world champions’ latest defeat.

One couldn’t argue with O’Sullivan’s assertion that neither he nor Robinson was in position to see whether Mark Cueto was in front of the kicker for England’s disallowed try in the first-half.

He needed prodding to mention the obstruction on Ronan O’Gara that paved the way for the soft score by Martin Corry. In other words, he has learned to take the rough with the smooth a great deal better than Robinson.

To be fair to the England manager, he visited the Irish dressing room to congratulate the players.

“I thought Ireland defended magnificently and when you do that and have somebody like Ronan O’Gara to kick your drop goals and penalties, you’ve got every chance of winning the Six Nations.”

Grudging - but true.

Of course, like all successful generals, O’Sullivan has had luck on his side from time to time and doesn’t deny it. Nor does he claim his side is perfect. They weren’t convincing against Italy, Scotland were awful and there were long periods on Sunday when England owned the ball and it was only magnificent defence that kept them at bay.

After a couple of days back in camp, the players will have the remainder of the week off (although Sunday’s subs will be free to represent their provinces at the weekend) before reassembling on Sunday for the French game.

“It’s tough at times, especially being away from the family,” said Anthony Foley. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love it.”