O’Sullivan confident of piling more pressure on Robinson

YOU couldn’t but compare the contrasting situations in which the rival coaches for Saturday’s Six Nations match at Twickenham found themselves at lunch time yesterday.

A composed Eddie O’Sullivan admitted it took a matter of minutes before choosing an unchanged side, while Andy Robinson had some sleepless nights before announcing seven changes after the horror of Paris.

It all suggests that everything is slotting nicely into place for Ireland although, as always, O’Sullivan and his captain Brian O’Driscoll played down the level of expectations. That was an extremely difficult task given the drastic measures taken by the English. Whether it is born of the victory at Twickenham two years ago; the success at Lansdowne Road last season or their impressive campaign in 2006, there seems to be a new found confidence in the Irish camp that has enabled O’Sullivan to speak positively about the possible outcome on Saturday. However, he is far too cute the fall into the very obvious trap being set by some British colleagues concerning their supposed role as favourites.

“It would be a first for Ireland to go to Twickenham as favourites to beat England”, he responded. “There is no point in thinking about the championship because it’s outside of our control. We’ll focus on what is within our control and a Triple Crown would be a very nice way to finish the season. When you win in a place like that, as we did two years ago, you realise it can be done. We know the English players well, we even know each other on a personal level having toured with many of them with the Lions. We meet them in the Heineken Cup and we beat them last year at Lansdowne Road so there is not a fear factor.

“That might have been the case years ago but I don’t believe it exists now. It doesn’t make the job any easier but it does mean if we get our ducks in a row, we can win it. It’s about getting the performance we need. I keep repeating it but it has to be a top performance. We’ve had some very good performances against top teams in recent years but never won any of them by more than one score. There were watersheds against Australia and South Africa and the two against England but all those games went down to the wire and we played out of our skin. If we’re going to win at Twickenham, it’s going to take the hell of a performance.”

O’Sullivan referred to the huge role home advantage has played throughout the season - the only away winners have been England in Rome - but he didn’t try to hide the fact that the English fans will demand a massive improvement on last weekend. He admitted to considerable surprise at the number of errors they had made against the French and mused that it was similar to how Ireland had performed at the Stade de France a few weeks earlier.

“The difference is that we fought back whereas they were unable to do so,” he cleverly commented.

“It might have been fairer to play all the games at the same time on the final day but it helps us a little that we will know exactly what we need to know before going on the pitch. It is fair to say that France are favourites in Cardiff but it’s always a difficult place to get a result.”

Predictably, Jonny O’Connor has been recalled to the substitutes bench in place of Mick O’Driscoll.

With the Champion Hurdle already in the bag and Beef or Salmon capable of emulating Brave Inca’s feat in the Gold Cup on Friday, everything is set for a fantastic week for the Irish in the land of the “auld enemy.”