French dirty tricks campaign backfires

THE quality of their rugby has have been a massive disappointment but there never really is a dull day with this Irish World Cup squad.

The French were at it again yesterday with a blistering attack in sports newspaper L’Equipe on Irish coach Eddie O’Sullivan. French manager Jo Maso touched a raw nerve with a poisonous piece on O’Sullivan which could really light the fuse as the two teams go into a potentially explosive clash at the Stade de France tonight.

The atmosphere in the Irish camp was ramped up by another notch in the same newspaper on Tuesday concerning the personal life of Irish out-half Ronan O’Gara. If it was part of a dirty tricks campaign – as I suggested on Wednesday – it may well have backfired. Ireland have clearly circled the wagons around O’Gara with O’Sullivan and skipper Brian O’Driscoll was quick to leap to his defence and rebut the allegations in the most forceful manner.