O’Driscoll winning fitness battle

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL should be fit to play for Ireland against South Africa on Saturday after taking a limited part in training yesterday, according to team manager Paul McNaughton who described himself as “optimistic” regarding the captain.

Keith Earls is also expected to be available after coming through a full session as Declan Kidney trimmed his squad to 30 ahead of this afternoon’s team announcement, with scrum-half Isaac Boss, winger Shane Horgan and props Brett Wilkinson and Mike Ross all cut from the initial group.

And with O’Driscoll set to take a full part in this morning’s training session at Donnybrook, McNaughton remains positive he will come through unscathed.

“Brian will do modified stuff today,” he said. “He’ll be running but he won’t be taking part in the full team runs against opposition and we’d hope he’ll get to full participation tomorrow. If he is fit he will be under consideration for the team. We expect him to be fit and strong.”

Assuming O’Driscoll comes through unscathed, Kidney will have a strong hand ahead of the Springboks’ visit after last week’s injury list disrupted preparations. Every autumn marks the beginning of the bi-annual northern versus southern hemisphere debate, and this year it’s no different after a Tri-Nations packed with tries and high paced action.

There are those who feel the high paced game – exemplified by Saturday’s enthralling Hong Kong clash between New Zealand and Australia – will prove too much for the European teams this autumn.

But Ireland backs coach Alan Gaffney refutes that theory and says too much is being read into the issue.

“I think people are taking too much out of what is happening over there at the present time,” he said. “It’s been refereed that way, it is a high paced game we ideally want to play but we haven’t had much experience at the present time.

“We said over there (during the summer tour) that it was a game we really want to play ourselves and we are pretty keen to do that. We know we have a mobile team. We don’t have a group of huge individuals. We’ve got a side who are very, very skilful. A game such as that would suit us ideally. We have a forward pack who can compete and are physical. But the other part of the game, I think does suit us. We just got to get more experience playing that game and get confident in what’s being done.

“There are a few modifications and changes in place that Declan has done, which all the players have embraced and we’re very happy to run down that patch.”

South Africa arrive into Dublin on Thursday ahead of the first ever international at the Aviva Stadium and they will be without Schalk Burger and Juan de Jongh who both picked up injuries in Saturday’s Currie Cup final and are ruled out of the tour.

Gaffney admitted Peter de Villiers’ selection looks “a bit of a mystery”, but he believes the world champions are targeting a win over the Irish.

“There’s no doubt,” he said. “I have spoken to people who are pretty close to the team and they say this is a game they are targeting. It is a game they want to win, they are desperate to win after not performing too well in the Tri-Nations and not to the level they wanted to perform, only wining the one game. So they want to get back on the horse as quickly as possible.”

IRELAND SQUAD

Forwards: R Best (Ulster), T Buckley (Munster), T Court (Ulster), S Cronin (Connacht), S Ferris (Ulster), J Hayes (Munster), C Healy (Leinster), J Heaslip (Leinster), D Leamy (Munster), J Muldoon (Connacht), D O’Callaghan (Munster), S O’Brien (Leinster), M O’Driscoll (Munster), D Ryan (Munster), D Toner (Leinster), D Wallace (Munster).

Backs: T Bowe (Ospreys), G D’Arcy (Leinster), G Duffy (Connacht), K Earls (Munster), L Fitzgerald (Leinster), R Kearney (Leinster), J Murphy (Munster), R O’Gara (Munster), B O’Driscoll (Leinster, capt), E Reddan (Leinster), J Sexton (Leinster), P Stringer (Munster), A Trimble (Ulster), P Wallace (Ulster).