O'Sullivan banking on England backlash

Eddie O’Sullivan is confident England can ambush France’s Grand Slam march and resurrect Ireland’s dream of RBS 6 Nations glory.

The Triple Crown holders need unbeaten France to be toppled by either England or Scotland to give them any hope of winning the championship on points difference.

The likelihood of the fallen world champions overcoming Bernard Laporte’s side have lengthened on the evidence of Saturday’s 43-13 mauling at Croke Park.

But O’Sullivan insists England are capable of registering a shock upset at Twickenham on March 11 as they attempt to haul themselves back into the championship race.

“Any team can beat any other on any given day. When France go to Twickenham, all bets are off,” said Ireland’s head coach. “England can put themselves back in the championship with a bang if they beat France. There’s a lot of motivation for them now and, if they get certain things right, there’s no doubt they will beat France.

“They won’t if they play like they did against us – it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work that out. But I think England will bounce back. They have a lot to prove. They recognise they did well in the first two games against Scotland and Italy but maybe also now realise they weren’t tested as much as they thought they had been.

“France will test them but England will now have a greater feel for where they are. It should be very interesting and hopefully they’ll blow the Six Nations wide open.”

Ireland’s victory at Croke Park made it four wins in succession against England but O’Sullivan was cautious when asked if the rivals’ fortunes had undergone a complete reversal since 2003.

The last World Cup year saw England win a Grand Slam, blow New Zealand and Australia away and lift the Webb Ellis trophy.

Now it is Ireland who are being viewed as serious World Cup challengers.

“It’s great to have won. We’ve gone a whole World Cup cycle [four years] without losing to the world champions. That is a good statistic,” said O’Sullivan.

“I said in the build up to the England game that all previous wins against them had been by only one score. We were very happy to win those games and some of them might have gone the other way but we dug in.

“Saturday was a comprehensive victory and the best in that respect. It shows where we are and proves that we are building in the right direction. You don’t get it right every day but, on balance, we’ve got it right more often than not. This win gives us a lot of confidence.

“We’ve ’transitioned’ the team pretty well over the last year and a half now. The last time we lost to England was at Lansdowne Road in a Grand Slam game and the score was the other way around to Saturday’s. We were well beaten.

“To say we are where England were in 2003 is a big statement to make. That team that beat us went on to beat New Zealand and Australia before going on to win the World Cup. For us, job one is to get out of our pool and, if we can do that, we want to reach the semi-finals.”

But having played down Ireland’s chances in France later this year, O’Sullivan revealed a conversation with England captain and World Cup winner Phil Vickery had provided comfort.

“Phil was very gracious after the defeat on Saturday. He told me he thinks Ireland are on a good track at the moment,” O’Sullivan said.

“He sees us as a team that could do very well at the World Cup. He said that in all sincerity. He’s been around a long time – he’s had good and bad days against Ireland.”