O’Sullivan insists he’s still eager for the task

EDDIE O’SULLIVAN has again brushed off suggestions of personal fatigue ahead of his seventh Six Nations campaign in charge of Ireland, claiming he’s as eager as ever about the job.

However, the fact the Corkman has made little or no changes to his starting side or introduced new back room staff, as recommended by the Genesis report, is creating the impression of a stale and jaded environment as the ‘Golden Generation’ goes on the road one more time in search of their first Grand Slam or Championship.

“I think the business I’m in you’ve got to accept the job as a constant challenge and that challenge is there whether things are going well or not so well,” says O’Sullivan on his appetite for the job.

“When things are going well, the challenge is that you can suddenly assume you’ve got it sorted out and everything is going to be fine. That’s the rock you perish on: complacency, over-confidence.

“And then the other side, when things aren’t going well the challenge is to put them right to fix them. That’s the nature of the beast. If you don’t want those type of challenges then why come into this environment?”

Despite O’Sullivan’s attempts to take discussion of Ireland’s disastrous World Cup campaign off the agenda, events in France are still casting a long shadow over the team’s preparations ahead of Saturday’s opener against Italy.

But O’Sullivan again has reiterated his intention to look forward, not backwards..

“We can’t change what happened at the World Cup. No matter what we say or what we do, it will always be there.

‘‘What we can do is attack the Six Nations and get on with it. That’s the challenge: nobody knows what’s going to happen in the Six Nations from any country, it’s very much up in the air, so we’ve got to get our own house in order and get on with it.

“You can’t keep looking backwards all the time. At some point you’ve got to focus what’s in front of you and that’s the here and now which happens to be Italy this week and next week France.”

Asked whether the players are wounded and determined to prove people wrong four months after the RWC dream died a slow death, O’Sullivan replied: “The one thing the players wanted to do when they got back from the World Cup was to get back playing again. They’ve done that with the provinces and got back on the pitch, and that was good for them.

‘‘They want to come back as a team now – the Irish rugby team – and get back to where they were last season, get back to the standard of performance that we know is within the team. That’s the challenge.’’

O’Sullivan has also warned that Ireland must remain patient in the early stages of Saturday’s opener against Italy in Croke Park – and not allow a repeat of what happened to Scotland inside the first six minutes when they conceded three tries against the Azzurri in last season’s competition.

Tries from Mauro Bergamasco, Andrea Scanavacca and Kaine Robertson in the first six minutes handed the Italian’s an astonishing 21-0 lead over Frank Hadden’s side.

O’Sullivan acknowledges that there is a possibility his charges might try to force the issue early on in an effort to prove something to the public. But the head coach’s mission statement to Brian O’Driscoll and company is to play their way into the game.

“I think there’s a danger in any game of forcing the issue, trying to make things happen that aren’t and not being patient,” he said. “There’s a chance next Saturday we’ll try and force the game early on and make things happen. The lesson there was Scotland against Italy in Murrayfield in last year’s Six Nations.

“I think it was the most bizarre period of rugby I’ve ever seen. Suddenly it gave them (Scotland) a mountain to climb and they couldn’t climb it and they lost the game.

“You’ve got to be careful; you’ve got to play your way into the game and remember the game is over 80 minutes.

‘‘The most important thing at the end of the 80 is to have more points on the board.’’