O’Sullivan sweats on Horan recovery
Horan was forced to withdraw on the eve of last weekend’s game against Scotland with a damaged calf muscle. Coach Eddie O’Sullivan is playing a waiting game on the front rowers availability and has opted for a Horan/Simon Best scenario for the weekend. His caution is generated by the fact the “injury is a grade one muscle strain that usually takes six to seven days to recover and so he will be right on the cusp. We will give Marcus until Friday because he needs the whole week”.
While the likely return of Horan is good news for Ireland and Munster — who have a Heineken Cup engagement with Llanelli at Stradey Park two weeks on Friday — O’Sullivan is resigned to being without Paul O’Connell, with his Munster teammate Mick O’Driscoll the player to benefit.
O’Sullivan has no fears for O’Driscoll: “He’s been in good form with Munster and it will help that he is coming into a pack with so many familiar faces.”
The absence of O’Connell means that Ireland will need a new pack leader in Rome. It’s not something that bothers O’Sullivan unduly given that “there is a fair bit of experience among the forwards. Simon Easterby has captained Ireland before and so will probably take over the role, but the players themselves will have a say in that.”
Better news for Ireland is that skipper Brian O’Driscoll is fully fit after a heavy knock to the shoulder injured in the infamous “spear” tackle on the Lions Tour to New Zealand in 2005.
Ironically, the subsequent operation may have saved the shoulder from popping out again and both O’Sullivan and O’Driscoll thanked surgeon Jimmy Colville for his good work.
“It came as a bit of a shock at the time,” O’Driscoll admitted of the blow sustained Saturday.
“But it loosened up a hour or so after the game and while it’s still a bit stiff, I’m sure it will be fine by Saturday. Obviously, the loss of Paul O’Connell will be severely felt and especially his leadership qualities. Like us all, he made a few mistakes at Murrayfield but his ball-carrying was tremendous and he made at least one vital turnover in the tackle. And he was one of those who stood up when we had our backs to the wall.”
Jerry Flannery, who has come in midway through the second half in each of the four championship games to date, will have to settle for the same role. Rory Best retains the number two jersey and in spite of Flannery’s greater fire and inspirational open field play, there’s little surprise in that, given the coach’s well chronicled admiration for the Ulsterman.
As Saturday’s game comes at the end of six weeks of intensive action, O’Sullivan doesn’t intend to overtax his squad on the training field.
“We had a rest on Monday and trimmed our planned 95-minute session today,” he explained.
“The guys don’t need a lot of battle hardening at this time of the year. There’s no point in leaving your best form on the training ground. Murrayfield wasn’t a great performance by any means. What concerns me is that we made five clean line breaks and came out with only three points to our credit. That’s a killer. We gave away six penalties in kickable positions and conceded 18 points. That’s a killer. Some of those decisions were borderline but the lads should have been more careful. They got on the wrong side of the referee at the wrong time. The big positive was rolling up our socks and getting the job done after being five points down in the last ten minutes.”
As for Saturday, he has no complaints at starting the programme off at 1.30pm and insisted their focus was solely on the game — not on the championship.
“You don’t go into a match like that with the intention of winning by 20 or 30 points,” he stressed. “If you do, you could lose by 20 or 30. The margin at the end will be a reflection of how you played or they played.”
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