O'Driscoll set to return against Wales

Brian O’Driscoll is primed to make his return against Wales next weekend as Ireland bid to land their first victory of the 2004 RBS 6 Nations championship.

Ireland opened their campaign with a 35-17 mauling by France – and although the scoreline fails to reflect a brave Irish performance which witnessed the odd flash of brilliance, Eddie O’Sullivan’s men finished well beaten.

O’Driscoll was one of six absentees from the Stade de France yesterday following his failure to recover from a hamstring injury, but O’Sullivan revealed he should be back in action against the resurgent Welsh next Sunday.

“I’m confident that Brian O’Driscoll will play. He’s had five days of rehab since he cried off on Tuesday. He was chomping at the bit but he just wasn’t right. I’m very hopeful for next Sunday,” he said.

“But I’ve learnt from experience that you can get a player with this type of injury 90% fit in five days – and then it takes another five days to get that last 10%.

“It’s going to be tight but it’s looking good.”

If fit O’Driscoll will be restored to outside centre, but it would be a big call to drop Gordon D’Arcy who marked his first start for Ireland with a lively display which he capped by setting up Tyrone Howe’s second-half try in Paris.

O’Sullivan is sure to try to accommodate D’Arcy somewhere in the back line, with one of the wingers or full-back Girvan Dempsey making way, because the Leinster back was the most dangerous player in a green shirt.

He nearly crossed early in the game, but Yannick Jauzion just clung on to his opposite number as France weathered a powerful opening flurry from Ireland whose early efforts went unrewarded.

Instead, it was the French who claimed the first try through Vincent Clerc following a robust midfield charge from centre Damien Traille – and Bernard Laporte’s side entered half time 11-3 ahead.

Anthony Foley slashed the deficit with his touchdown three minutes after the interval – Ronan O’Gara was the provider after gathering his own chip ahead and feeding to the Munster number eight – but France then clicked into gear.

Tries from Pascal Pape and Jauzion in the space of four minutes spelled the end for Ireland, who could only admire the handling and vision which led to Pape’s score – despite D’Arcy and Howe combining expertly in the 69th minute.

Jean-Baptiste Elissalde rubbed salt into the wound by touching down in the 77th minute – and the accomplished Frederic Michalak, who finished with a personal haul of 17 points, converted to complete the scoring.

France were worthy winners and always appeared too strong for their opponents. But Ireland played with plenty of fire, and O’Sullivan was proud of his side - given that they were missing some of their bigger names.

“We lost, but I measure that result well above some of the defeats we’ve had over the last couple of years. Traditionally we would have lost the plot when France hit their purple patch in the second half,” he said.

“But we showed a fair bit of composure and didn’t panic even when the game looked like slipping away from us. We kept at them and clawed our way into the game. That takes a bit of doing in Paris.

“I think we now have strength in depth in certain positions. If Ireland had played France in previous years with six front-line players out of the team it could have been a very bad day.”

Even so it was a sorry way for lock Paul O’Connell to mark his first match as captain – O’Driscoll will resume the captaincy against Wales – especially given his own colossal contribution.

But he insists he relished his leadership duties.

“It was really tough out there. France are one of the best teams in the world. Sometimes you can catch them on a bad day and win, but when they’re on song they’re very hard to beat,” he said.

“I enjoyed the captaincy – it’s not that hard a job when there are so many guys putting their hands up to help you. There are so many senior players in the squad that it’s become a collective job.

“It’s not going to be the day that Paul O’Connell led the Irish team to victory in Paris, and that’s a shame.

“But at the same time we didn’t perform badly. The ball seemed to bounce their way.”