Irish urged to put Cup misery behind them
Irish urged to put Cup misery behind them
Reuters | Friday, 25 January 2008
Irish urged to put Cup misery behind them - Rugby news & coverage - Stuff.co.nz
Ireland must put a disappointing World Cup campaign behind them and reproduce their form of 12 months ago at this year's Six Nations championship, according to coach Eddie O'Sullivan.
Ireland's pool-stage exit at the World Cup in September left them wondering where it had all gone wrong after capturing three Triple Crowns in the last four seasons.
"We met as a squad before Christmas, put it to bed and said we'd move on to the Six Nations," O'Sullivan told reporters at a news conference to launch the championship.
"We've got to stop looking backwards and start looking forwards. If we don't get our focus right we won't be ready in two weeks' time."
Ireland begin against Italy at Croke Park on February 2. Despite the prospect of trips to the Stade de France and Twickenham, O'Sullivan believes his side are still capable of the form that has seen them defeat England in their past four meetings.
"We didn't become a bad rugby team overnight and we have the opportunity with the Six Nations to prove that and get back to where we were last year," he said.
Captain Brian O'Driscoll, who confirmed he is fit to face the Italians after limping out of Leinster's Heineken Cup loss to Leicester on Saturday, shared his coach's optimism.
"We have a confidence within our side that we know when we play well, we're a very hard team to beat." the 29-year-old centre said. "It's just a matter of finding the form we showed in last year's Six Nations that passed us by in the World Cup."
O'Sullivan is keeping faith with the players that featured at the World Cup but he hinted that some younger members of the squad -- props Tony Buckley and Cian Healy and backs Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald -- could play a part in the Six Nations.
"How many make the field during the Six Nations remains to be seen but I'm pretty sure some of them will at some point," he said.
With the nucleus of the team approaching their 30s, O'Driscoll acknowledged time was running out for them to achieve their ambition of winning a Six Nations title.
"It was great to win three Triple Crowns in four seasons but we didn't pick up the championship and that's how you gauge yourself against other teams and as an individual," he said.
"We feel as though at times we've left something behind but there's always the current season to put that right."
