O’Driscoll wades into debate

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL yesterday admitted his squad felt ‘disappointed and deflated’ after the Republic of Ireland’s controversial World Cup play-off defeat to France on Wednesday night.

The rugby skipper watched the game in the Irish team room at the Killiney base as they prepared for this afternoon’s clash with Fiji at the RDS. The failure of the officials to spot Thierry Henry’s infringement infuriated players and management.

The Irish skipper revealed he sent a text to Damien Duff after the Stade de France dramatics to tell the Fulham winger: “what a privilege it was to watch a performance and how they had done everyone proud”.