O’Connell: All parts of our game could be better

IT won’t matter whether he captains the side or resumes his customary role as vice captain and pack leader, Paul O’Connell is adamant it won’t make a difference to his personal performance against France at Croke Park on Sunday.

“There probably isn’t a whole lot of difference between being captain or pack leader,” he reasoned. “I chat to the ref anyway because Brian is in the backs. When I’ve done the job on two occasions in the past, I found it very motivating and it helped me play better.”

O’Connell accepts, though, that Ireland have to improve in just about every area if they’re to cope with the French: “We’ve got to hold on to the ball longer and play more phases for one thing. Put teams under more pressure — our kicking game, our line-out, scrum, they can all be better. Our work at the break down was generally good in Cardiff, but once or twice it was sloppy and nearly cost us so we need to improve by one or two% in every part of our game.”