O’Driscoll issues rallying call

IRELAND captain Brian O’Driscoll has urged his players to recapture the intensity that helped end England’s Grand Slam dream earlier this year for their World Cup Pool C showdown against Australia on Saturday.

The Tri Nations champions represent the biggest challenge of the Irish qualifying campaign in New Zealand, particularly against the backdrop of a winless pre-season and a laboured victory over the USA in the opening World Cup fixture last Sunday in New Plymouth.

Ireland go into the Eden Park clash as firm underdogs against the Wallabies, who beat Italy 32-6 on Sunday, and so the captain is conjuring memories of the Aviva Stadium in March, when Declan Kidney’s side produced their best performance of the year to defeat the English 24-8.

“I think we did bring a great intensity to that game and we need to try and recapture what it was that did that for us,” O’Driscoll said. “Any time you play well it’s always trying to mirror what happens, both the attitude and the build-up towards that game. It’s hard to do but, listen, Australia in a World Cup, there’s not many games bigger than that so hopefully the motivation won’t be lacking.”

Kidney has selected 13 of the 15 players who started the game against England in his starting XV to face Australia, with only the injured David Wallace absent from the match day squad and Andrew Trimble having dropped to the bench. Rob Kearney starts at full-back and Stephen Ferris at blindside flanker, having both missed the England game through injury in the spring, with the Eoin Reddan and Jonny Sexton partnership reprised in the half-backs from that day as the Ireland coach made four changes from the side which started the 22-10 win over the United States.

O’Driscoll, however, saw no great significance or comfort in the majority of those players from that final Six Nations match of the 2011 campaign being reunited this weekend.

“I work off the comfort of the last time we played really well as a team. I believe that we have a very good squad now and different combinations can come in and do a good job. This is the side Declan has picked and we are the ones who have been given the responsibility of the jersey this weekend.

“We have to give that jersey the respect it deserves and up our performance from where it’s been at but I don’t think it gives us any more comfort that it’s a side close to the one that played against England.”

That said, beating Australia at Lansdowne Road in November 2006 and drawing with the Wallabies at Croke Park in 2009 was something O’Driscoll took solace from heading into Saturday’s Auckland clash.

“I suppose the fact that we have beaten Australia has helped us. We drew with them a couple of years ago and probably in the back of your head there’s a realisation that we have done it before so it’s about remembering that formula as to what it was that did it for us. But there’s no real magic secret to those sort of victories. You just have to bring a big intensity to the game and a huge amounts comes down to that phrase ‘the will to win’, who wants it that bit more.”

O’Driscoll on Tuesday came in for some heady praise from a number of Aussie backs, for whom the centre and captain was the first and sometimes only Irish name that the Australians could summon when asked for comment on this weekend’s opposition. Kidney believes that does not imply a lack of respect for his team and he said Robbie Deans’ side were just as desperate for a result on Saturday as the Irish were.

“Obviously when they talk about Brian and his track record when they go to press conferences, with all due respect, they have to talk about somebody and they might as well talk about Brian as anybody, he’s an easy topic to talk about,” Kidney said as he sat beside his captain.

“I’m sure they do [respect Ireland]. You don’t win a game of rugby if you don’t respect the opposition because otherwise you’ll get turned over. I’m sure they do in their own way.

“We respect them and they respect us and it has the makings of a good game. They know, having beaten Italy, that if they can do a job on us, then that gives them the odds of getting into the side of the draw that they want... and leave all the other Tri Nations on the other half of the draw.”