O’Sullivan Happy With Improved Performance

Coach Eddie O’Sullivan spoke about his disappointment with the lineout and admitted that despite all the hard work done at training since the England match, there is an awful lot of work yet to be done, with much room for improvement.

The substitution of Frank Sheahan, thirty five minutes into the first half, was a tactical move. O’Sullivan admitted that this was to allow for Shane Byrne to put a fresh perspective on the lineout. Despite the many evident negatives features of today’s game, O’Sullivan did however concede that he was very happy with the end result, a 43-22 victory for Ireland.

Lloyds TSB Man of the Match, Brian O’Driscoll spoke of his delight with the end result. Commenting on the lead-up to today’s match, O’Driscoll admitted that much of the focus in training was on putting the disappointment of the England match aside and concentrating on winning the Scotland game. Emphasising how important victory over Scotland is to the morale of the squad, O’Driscoll expressed his sheer delight at winning by such an excellent scoring margin of 19 points. Coupled with his personal triumph of scoring a hatrick of tries in today’s match, the first one scored in the 26th minute, the second with 14 seconds remaining of the first half and again two minutes into extra time of the second half, O’Driscoll is now looking forward to the Italian game to be played in three weeks time.