0
Ireland duo set for late tests
Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan will wait until the last possible moment before making a decision over the availability of winger Denis Hickie and prop Marcus Horan for Saturday's clash against Scotland at Murrayfield.
The pair are struggling after suffering a back spasm and calf strain respectively, with Leicester Tigers utility-back Geordan Murphy and Ulster front-rower Bryan Young having been brought into the Irish squad in case they do not make it in time.
"Denis trained this morning and everything seemed fine, but obviously the problem with a back spasm is that it could go backwards again and if it does we could be in trouble," said O'Sullivan.
"We'll just have to see how he goes in the warm-up and I think we'll leave it to the last minute to be 100% sure.
"Marcus Horan was just warming up and he felt a tightness at the top of the calf, which is a little bit of concern given that it is only 24 hours out.
"I prefer to call these things earlier than later but in this scenario you always give the guys every opportunity."
While Ireland, flying high after a spectacular victory over England a fortnight ago, will be aiming to claim the Triple Crown on Saturday, Scotland will be looking to salvage some pride after a 37-17 humbling by Italy.
However, O'Sullivan said that it would be dangerous to read too much into the background of this match.
"You buy into that stuff and it will be your downfall. The one thing we know about Test rugby is that all the talk that goes on before the match might be very interesting, but when the ball is kicked off nobody knows what is going to happen,' he said.
"If you are going to depend on the past to win the game tomorrow then you are in big trouble.
"This Scottish team have a point to prove and we know that is all Scotland need – they have shown many times in the past that they are very good at proving points.
"And we've gone into games before where we've been favourites but been turned over because we probably bought into our own fame too much."
THE BIG GAME THIS WEEKEND in the 6 Nations
ENGLAND vs FRANCE
Sunday 11th March - 15:00 pm (GMT)
Twickenham
England have not beaten France since their 2003 World Cup semi-final success in Sydney - and it is a sequence they could struggle to end on Sunday.
France, RBS 6 Nations title favourites and on the trail of a Grand Slam, will arrive at Twickenham in confident mood.
Coach Bernard Laporte has recalled Biarritz scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili, who scored 53 of his team's 73 points during the past three victories over England, with prop Pieter De Villiers and number eight Sebastien Chabal also back.
England, in contrast, offer a sense of disarray.
They have lost captain Phil Vickery, fly-half Jonny Wilkinson and centre Andy Farrell to injuries, meaning a recall for 35-year-old London Irish back Mike Catt as skipper and a first start at number 10 for Toby Flood, 14 years Catt's junior.
But it is up-front where England really must deliver, having been taken apart by a rampant Irish pack at Croke Park two weeks ago.
Props Tim Payne and Julian White, lock Tom Palmer, flanker Tom Rees and number eight Nick Easter have all been drafted in, while Leicester number eight Martin Corry moves to the second-row for only a second Test start as lock during a 52-cap Test career.
France though, hold all the aces, especially if they establish dominance in the forward battle, which would then allow the likes of Yannick Jauzion, Christophe Dominici and Clement Poitrenaud a chance to cut loose.
England will need to produce probably their strongest post-World Cup performance to threaten the French, yet even that might not be enough if the visitors hit top gear and Yachvili continues his personal points blitz on a struggling home team.
Ireland Take the Triple Crown
Hadden disappointed by Scotland
Scotland coach Frank Hadden lamented the 19-18 defeat to Ireland at Murrayfield as a missed opportunity.
Ronan O'Gara scored all of Ireland's points - through a try, four penalties and a conversion - as they ground out an RBS 6 Nations victory which clinched the Triple Crown.
Chris Paterson replied with six penalties in a flawless kicking display as Scotland posed Eddie O'Sullivan's men a bigger challenge than both Wales and England had managed.
Nevertheless Hadden was frustrated that his team had not performed to a higher standard as Ireland claimed their third Triple Crown in four years.
Scotland have not beaten Ireland since 2001 and the visitors' success in Edinburgh was their seventh consecutive win in matches between the teams.
He said: "The camp is obviously bitterly disappointed at the outcome of today's game but most disappointing thing of all was that we didn't play well enough.
"Ireland were there for the beating but we didn't do enough or perform with enough accuracy or precision during the game to get a grip of it.
"It was the sort of game where the scoreline was always going to be back and forward and you just weren't too sure who would be in front at the end.
"But we see it as a missed opportunity against the second-best side in the world to give the sort of quality performance of which we know we are capable.
"We were very disappointed with the quality of our defence. Obviously if we had happened to be in front at the end of the game we would have accepted the win but we would still be disappointed.
"We started poorly and I wanted to see a performance right from the start. But, perhaps, to be fair we underestimated what the defeat by the Italians took from our confidence.
"There's only so much confidence you have and when you take a pasting from all and sundry following the Italian defeat it is difficult to rebound and I said before the game we'd find out how much it had affected us.
"I was surprised by the lack of urgency we showed at the start. But there were some good cameo moments throughout the game as it swung one way and another but in terms of what we were capable of it was disappointing."
Ireland coach O'Sullivan added: "We would have been disappointed if we didn't win. The game is always a dogfight at Murrayfield.
"We talked about what it would be like all week and knew the media hoopla going into the game was a load of nonsense.
"We never bought into it. Scotland felt they had let themselves down against Italy and needed a big performance against us.
"This was their last home game in the Six Nations and they wanted a win before going to France next weekend.
"They produced their best performance of the championship and if we'd adopted the mentality of the media we would have lost.
"I was not surprised it was such a dogfight. Our discipline was poor - when you give six kicks at goal to Paterson there's only one outcome.
"When we fell behind and the clock was running out, a big question was being asked of the boys.
"Would we pack up and go home or rally? It wasn't pretty but it was effective. I wasn't happy with the performance but we came out on top."
Ireland will assess the fitness of O'Driscoll (shoulder) and Gordon D'Arcy (bumps and bruises) tomorrow (Sunday) with both centres receiving treatment on the pitch.
Now we need England to beat France for the 6 Nations Championship
Reply With Quote
