Fortune smiling on Irish

WITH just four days to go before the first Test in Bloemfontein, things appear to be getting better and better from an Irish perspective.

If you're from this part of the world, though, fortune certainly appears to be working in reverse.

Having lost six players to injury over the past two weeks, South African coach Jake White was probably pretty confident his luck couldn't get any worse. But yesterday's loss of star centre De Wet Barry for six weeks with an ankle injury dispelled that theory. He will, no doubt, be keeping every part of his anatomy crossed over the next few days to ensure no further mishaps to his selected 22.

At around the same time that Barry went over on his left foot in Bloemfontein, Eddie O'Sullivan was putting his 26-man squad through their paces at the Villagers Sports Club, with the four players who sat out Sunday's session all returning to full body contact.

On the fitness front, the gods appear to be smiling in Ireland's direction. The greatest irony in Barry's withdrawal, though, was that the Western Stormers' centre along with his midfield partner Marius Joubert had been highlighted by both O'Sullivan and his captain Brian O'Driscoll as being the greatest potential threat to the Irish defensive line.

With that partnership now broken up, that danger has certainly decreased a notch or two but it still won't be all plain sailing for the Irish midfield.

In the four games O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy have played together for Ireland, both players D'Arcy in particular have shown a zeal for the attacking side of the game, but their pedigree on the back-foot has yet to be fully tested.

O'Driscoll admitted that he and his Leinster team-mate hadn't exactly been stretched defensively during their midfield partnership to date, but the Irish captain was also was keen to stress that he felt thoroughly prepared to smother anything the Springboks throw at them on Saturday.

"In Twickenham the conditions weren't ideal for the English to have a proper attacking platform against us because the ball was greasy," said O'Driscoll, "but the Welsh came into the game at Lansdowne Road full of confidence and they weren't able to throw anything at myself and Gordon that we couldn't deal with.

"We feel we are confident enough to deal with what is thrown against us on Saturday. It's going to be very tough against the Springboks but we're look forward to that challenge immensely. Playing in these big games and putting difficult situations in front of you are the kind of things you play rugby for."

On the subject of D'Arcy's headline-grabbing season thus far, O'Driscoll stated that he has been forced to give himself a proverbial kick up the backside in order to keep up appearances with his colleague. "I don't know if Gordon's emergence has taken any pressure off me I think it has given me a kick up the ass if anything," quipped the 25-year-old.

"To have someone come along like Gordon, I guess he has been a breath of fresh air for us this year in that he has set the standard of centre play. Now I have something to strive for and if I'm to look for a couple of headlines that don't have D'Arcy in them these days, I'm going to have to play a lot better."

With O'Driscoll fully recovered from last week's worrying back spasm, and Geordan Murphy, Paul O'Connell and Malcolm O'Kelly back to full-fitness after various niggles, O'Sullivan must be relishing announcing his starting line-up this morning.

There are expected to be few surprises in the coach's selection.

The only position of uncertainly concerns the back-row, principally Munster's David Wallace.

O'Sullivan is known not to be an huge admirer of the Garryowen flanker and that could well work against him.

The obvious choice to replace him would be his Munster team-mate Alan Quinlan, who just recently returned to fitness having dislocated his collar bone against Argentina during last year's World Cup.

The Shannon man has only played two and half full games of rugby since his return, but against a bulky South African pack, his physical presence might ensure he gets the nod from the coaching staff.

At the very least if O'Sullivan decides to stick with a game-breaker like Wallace Quinlan will take his place on the replacements' bench.