Ireland results no Fluke - O'Sullivan

Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan wants to throw off the ’plucky Irish’ tag as he takes his team into the World Cup quarter-finals against France this weekend.

Many Australian commentators described the Irish effort in the 17-16 loss to Australia as ’gallant’, but O’Sullivan does not want to be put in that sort of category.

“I don’t want it to be ’lucky’ or ’gallant’ Ireland,” said O’Sullivan after his team produced two superb displays in two weeks to beat Argentina by a point and then narrowly fail to embarrass the world champions on their home turf.

“This was a game in which we were organised on attack and defence and we analysed our opponents very carefully,” he said.

The coach revealed his team had spent time at their base in Terrigal focusing specifically on their two most significant opponents.

“We had an Australia day, where we just practised playing Australia, and also an Argentina day,” he said.

That sort of careful preparation paid off with the narrow win in Adelaide and what could easily have been the biggest upset of the tournament in Melbourne.

Meanwhile, Ulster winger Tyrone Howe has arrived in Melbourne as a replacement for the injured Denis Hickie.

Howe, who has 10 Ireland caps and toured with the Lions, flew into Australia early this morning.

“He arrived at 6am this morning and trained with the team and he’s fine after the long flight,” said Ireland team spokesman John Redmond.

Hickie has flown home for surgery on his Achilles tendon after rupturing the ligament against Australia, and he was joined on the plane by Alan Quinlan, who was injured against Argentina.

The success of the team in overcoming Argentina and then pushing Australia so hard has given added enthusiasm to the hordes of Irish supporters, with more fans expected to arrive from the Emerald Isle before the match against France.

“There are people talking of coming out from Ireland for this game,” said O’Sullivan in disbelief.

“The whole country has gone crazy at home. The support in Melbourne was incredible and it was a doozy of a game from anybody’s angle.

“I knew we wouldn’t be supported by Australians playing Australia, but I always felt that support when we’re playing anybody else,” he said.

“Next week we’ll need it and the gauntlet’s down for the boys to put in another big one.”