O’Driscoll: Error count must be minimised

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL admitted yesterday too many mistakes were made in the RBS 6 Nations opener in Rome and warned France could tear Ireland apart unless remedial action is taken on Sunday.

“We made a huge amount of mistakes, mainly just down to individuals. Sure, there was a bit of pressure put on and ball lost in contact, but guys in possession have to look after the ball. When you know you’re not going to score yourself then it’s about trying to recycle and making sure you score from the next phase or the one after that. We didn’t do that, probably lost our patience and tried to score a bit too early at times.”

Holding his own hands up, he said: I know myself the errors that I made – they might be uncharacteristic but they happened. You go out to work on it and put it right the next time; that happens to be this weekend.