O’Driscoll scoffs as fair weather Wallabies blame conditions

NOWHERE to run, nowhere to hide. As the rain came pelting into their tanned faces in the final quarter of Sunday’s international in Lansdowne Road there was surely only one thought running through the heads of the beleaguered Aussies — please referee, blow it up.

Afterwards, the weather was still very much on the mind of coach John Connolly as he attempted to explain away a very comprehensive defeat. This was their house, he said, this is their kind of weather, the suggestion being that this was why Australia lost, why Ireland won.

Rubbish, says Irish captain Brian O’Driscoll. “We’re not responsible for when it rains or when the wind blows like that, you’ve got to play what’s in front of you. When the conditions were half-reasonable in the first half I felt we were the ones who played the rugby, we were the ones who showed the good skill levels, we were able to bring the ball through phases.