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.

“The second half was a bit of a lottery, sometimes your tactical game comes in, and that is a strong part of our game. But I felt the first-half performance we were comfortable victors. We’ll take a huge amount from that - Australia are a smart, quality side, and any time you outplay them, outthink them, you’ve done a good job.”

The final 20 minutes of the first half were exhilarating from Ireland.

They strung together the phases to which O’Driscoll alluded, with superb ball-handling by backs and forwards.

“We were brimming with confidence,” said O’Driscoll. “Keeping the ball in hand, we felt we could get line breaks, bring them through the phases and be patient. We did all the things we wanted to do and I felt we showed great control in that 20 minutes. We didn’t push the passes, possibly could have had another couple of scores.

“All in all, I felt it was a pretty complete 20 minutes, and you could probably extend that to 30 after we had contained the initial Australian onslaught from the kick-off. You’re very aware of what’s going on, how vocal they are (the fans), and that’s the beauty of Lansdowne Road. If you can give them something to cheer about, they’re worth a score to you when they get behind you. Certainly coming off at half-time we were the ones with the big chests.”

Beforehand it was the Aussies who were the big men, their two centres especially. Stirling Mortlock and Lote Tuqiri weigh in at an impressive 100kg and 103kg respectively with each standing at 191cm.

O’Driscoll and his centre partner Gordon D’Arcy were conceding nearly two stone each, and five inches in height. That was all they conceded, however as they outplayed the Aussies.

“I’d like to think so,” the Irish captain agreed. “I felt we possibly got the upper hand. We didn’t see a massive amount of ball but when we did, I thought Darce again carried extremely well. People don’t realise how strong the guy is, how powerful he is.

“They think they get the initial shot on him but he just keeps driving the legs on them. The amount of metres he gets for us after contact, the amount of go-forward, setting the platform for the forwards, is very instrumental in the way we’re playing. I thought he had a great performance. Personally I didn’t get to see too much ball, a couple of errors, but it’s not about individual performances, it’s about how the team reacts as a whole and today we reacted very well.”