Still freshness in camp, says BOD

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL was refreshingly open at the captain’s table in Killiney yesterday — from thoughts on life without Gordon, to candidly relating how the negative reaction to Saturday’s win over Italy impacts upon the squad, and explaining why there is “freshness” in camp despite rumours of players working in a stale environment.

And the Dubliner also said he would welcome the addition of a backs coach.

O’Driscoll will team up with Andrew Trimble in a new Irish midfield against Les Bleus on Saturday, but understandably he’ll miss the telepathic relationship that exists with Leinster colleague Gordon D’Arcy who must endure up to three months on the sidelines following an arm fracture against Italy. O’Driscoll can empathise with D’Arcy’s predicament.

“A long lay-off is the worst part of being an international rugby player,” explains O’Driscoll, who spent close to six months nursing a shoulder injury after that infamous “spear tackle” during the 2005 Lions tour.

“From Gordon’s end, it’s just a case of trying to stay upbeat and trying to keep fit. He’s in a lucky position in that he’s studying at the moment, so he has something else to take his mind off things.

“But Darce will come back stronger than ever — he mightn’t have been playing the best rugby of his life but he’s always an invaluable player to any side because he can create something from nothing. You want as many of those players in your team as you can possibly get.”

He added: “I’m disappointed for him, but at some stage in our careers a lot of us have had lengthy lay-offs. It’s something you have to come to terms with.”

Ireland’s inability to gel against wooden-spoon favourites Italy drew a negative reaction from fans and media alike. It was seen as a flashback to the early World Cup pool games against Namibia and Georgia, and while the players are aware of the criticism O’Driscoll admits they must insulate themselves from same.

“I’d be lying if I said that people don’t take some sort of heed of what is being said. Of course they do, but you have to cocoon yourself when you’re in camp. You don’t really get the full feeling as to whether it’s good or bad in the public domain, and you don’t really know the full strength (of criticism) when you’re away on tour or when you’re away at a World Cup. You don’t really understand how big it is at home.

“It’s a case of battling on and playing the way we know we’re capable of playing, and just trying to iron out those creases and make sure when the opportunities arise again we’re a little bit more clinical and we correct things when we make mistakes. There are no excuses for making the same mistakes again next weekend.”

Ireland’s back play, however, appears to be in need of surgery. When it was suggested it’s an area that may need freshening up, O’Driscoll said he’d be open to the arrival of a new backs coach. He has even discussed the matter with coach Eddie O’Sullivan.

“There’s no harm in having fresh ideas thrown in there,” says O’Driscoll.

“For the most part there’s probably been the same 11 or 12 players in the Irish back line for the last three or four years. Sometimes you may become a little bit stale, you may be regurgitating a lot of the old plays that you’ve done, and no harm sometimes in new ideas coming in thrown at you, and just new ways of thinking outside the box sometimes.”

He says that, as captain, he relays concerns and “feelings” of players to O’Sullivan because it helps to implement change. He also says the Ireland team environment is not in decay as portrayed by the media.

However, he did add that being away from family can take its toll.

“Freshness is always important. If you have a winning formula it doesn’t stay that way — you have to keep building on it and changing things and tweaking things here and there because the guys have been in the squad for eight, nine, 10 years and it’s not easy.

“As much as you’ll see nice hotels here and you might see nice food laid on for you, it’s not nice being away from your family, it’s not nice having to live out of a suitcase. There are certain parts that become annoying.

“It’s important that all those things remain a constant, but the things that you can change to freshen your attitude up and freshen the feeling up ... if they can be implemented, well, fantastic, it doesn’t feel like groundhog day.”