Room to improve but O’Connell is keeping the faith

The jury may remain in session on this Irish team, but Paul O’Connell’s belief in the potential of the national selection has not wavered, even if he accepted yesterday there was room for the graph to shoot upwards.

Ireland go into Saturday’s date with Italy on the back of two straight losses and three consecutive reversals at the Aviva Stadium, where they have lost six of their nine fixtures to date.

That last statistic is embarrassing for a side that claimed a Grand Slam only three seasons ago and one which looked on track to penetrate deeper into a World Cup than ever before until the deflation of Wellington late last year.

“We’re well aware of that record and it’s annoying and frustrating,” said the Munster lock. “We’ve rarely put in an 80-minute performance there and that’s the real problem. We’re an excellent side but we haven’t been that excellent side for the whole 80 minutes and that will be the goal for this weekend.”

Much was made of the old ‘Lansdowne Roar’ when the stadium perched there was a rickety old shack, but O’Connell admits, with a 1.30pm kick-off and a less lubricated attendance, the onus is on the team to get the party started this weekend.

It is a marked difference from Paris where they were pencilled in for a 9pm start and, truth be told, O’Connell would prefer the late-night appointment and chance to lounge around as opposed to a lunchtime kick-off.

One peek at recent trends with this team might suggest he has a point. Time and again, as against Wales in the Six Nations opener, they have failed to kick clear of the starting gate and O’Connell accepted as much yesterday.

One would imagine that should not be an issue this week given the unfortunate hiatus in their campaign, but Ireland still must be careful lest they wander too far off the leash.

“You can be psyched to the gills for a match but if your discipline concedes points, possession and territory early on, no matter how mentally ready you are, you can really put yourself in trouble. So that’s a really important aspect this week. Not only are we ready to physically start well, we’re ready to mentally start well in terms of discipline around penalties, but also in defence.”

Ireland hope their return to action garners a more favourable result than back in 2001 when they fell to Scotland six months after the tournament resumed and their Grand Slam attempt was halted by the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

This latest, shorter stoppage has already been debated endlessly, though not by O’Connell — “it is what it is” — but the Ireland skipper is at least hoping the four games in four weeks schedule proves a blessing in disguise.

“That’s the way we’d always try to look at things. A run of four weeks in a row gives you a great opportunity to gather momentum. Each week, you review yourself quickly, sort yourself out very quickly and get going again. It’s rare we get that opportunity as a national team to spend so much time together, apart from perhaps World Cups. It should be a positive for us.”