Six Nations: Dempsey - O'Driscoll is awesome

Girvan Dempsey believes his Leinster and Ireland team-mate Brian O’Driscoll is even more of a threat to the French now than when he tore them apart in Paris two years ago.

Full-back Dempsey has been a close-hand observer of the world-class skills of the Lions centre since he made his mark with a hat-trick of tries at Stade de France in March 2000 when Ireland inflicted the first of back-to-back victories over the French.

And for Dempsey, O’Driscoll just keeps getting better and better.

‘‘It’s hard to imagine that he could come on in leaps and bounds since then but he has,’’ Dempsey said.

‘‘He is a class player and he has come on so much since Paris two years ago. That day he was just awesome and he’s shown it so much since.

‘‘Throughout the Lions tour last summer he was just superb. His general touch, how he gets himself out of a tight corner and his footwork is just immense. His pace is awesome and his try-scoring ability is just second to none.’’

There is another side to O’Driscoll’s game, though, which Dempsey believes deserves better recognition.

He added: ‘‘The thing Brian doesn’t get credit for though is his defensive tackling. It’s just fantastic. He reads a back line attack very well and always seems to take the right man, he’s always in the right position.

‘‘As a full-back you definitely appreciate that side of his play. Most of the time you can almost guarantee he’ll take two men; you’re always confident that if there’s one man he’s going to get the next one if he offloads it.’’

It’s defensive cover like that which Dempsey will be relying on this Saturday when he expects the French to come charging out of the blocks as they go in search of the Grand Slam.

‘‘One thing we’re going to target on Saturday is that during the first 10 or 15 minutes we really have to put down a marker.

‘‘There can be no gaps left in defence and we have to set a target there to hold them out in that period and set our game up from there.

‘‘That would be the big fear, we cannot go out there willy-nilly and let the French get their game flowing and get it behind us.

‘‘Once they start that, the cries of ‘Allez! Allez!’ go up and they get so much confidence.

‘‘But if you can hold them out they can get frustrated, and we’ve seen from playing against them in the Heineken Cup that they have a tendency to lose their shape and lose their pattern when that happens and the crowd tend to get at their own players instead. So that’s one thing we’re going to have to try and do.’’