Confidence is soaring admits O'Callaghan

RUGBY:Donncha O'Callaghan has warned Ireland's Six Nations rivals that the side will only improve following their stunning 30-21 victory over France on Saturday.

One of the great results in Irish rugby history was made all the sweeter by the knowledge it was achieved against a swashbuckling France who thrilled Croke Park with some dazzling play.

Equally pleasing was a clinical final quarter that subdued the ominous French fightback, allowing Declan Kidney’s side to begin dreaming of a first title since 1985 — just one match into the Six Nations.

Victory over Italy in Rome on Sunday will see their championship bid gather further momentum and O’Callaghan admits confidence is soaring after yesterday’s heroics.

“Now it’s all about backing up that performance,” said the Munster lock. “It’s no good putting in a performance like this if we play badly in Italy next weekend.

“This win puts us in a great position in the Six Nations, even if we have played just one game. Rugby is all about confidence.

“This will give us more confidence and guys in the team will maybe try a few more things they wouldn’t have done if we’d lost.

“Winning’s a habit and hopefully we can keep it going throughout the championship.”

Tries from man of the match Jamie Heaslip, Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy brought Ireland’s seven-match losing sequence against France to a pulsating conclusion.

Kidney spent the build up to the match highlighting the disparity between the nations’ playing resources, the head coach happier than ever to cast his side as the humble underdogs.

But his kidology failed to disguise the fact they started as favourites and O’Callaghan insists Ireland should no longer be burdened by an inferiority complex against France.

“Sometimes I don’t like playing us down because we don’t fear these teams anymore,” he said.

“I don’t want to sound cocky but there hasn’t been a fear factor against France for two years now.

“They’ve beaten us in the last couple of fixtures but there’s been a bounce of the ball between us.

“Sometimes you can pay too much lip service to them and granted they have more players to select from, but we shouldn’t play down to that.

“Look at the provinces — Leinster and Munster have both won games in France now. We know what it takes to beat them.

“We’re playing against these guys week-in, week-out and we know their faces. They’re quality players but sometimes we can play small. We say they have 14 teams and that we have four.

“But last season Leinster won the Magners League and Munster won the Heineken Cup so why should we back ourselves into a corner and think we’re smaller?

“They’ve had more good days than us in these fixtures in the past so it’s good to get a result.”

Heaslip’s star turn will have caught the attention of Lions selectors, who will also have been heartened by O’Driscoll’s dynamic second-half try.

It was vintage O’Driscoll, accelerating on to a flat pass between the narrow gap separating Lionel Beauxis and Yannick Jauzion before wrong-footing Maxime Medard to finish.

The score evoked memories of the 30-year-old’s try for the Lions against Australia in 2001 and capped his best performance in an Ireland jersey for some time.

“We won’t get carried away but Brian’s try — if you did that in training you’d be delighted, but to do it on an international pitch was brilliant,” said O’Callaghan.

“There was a spark in everyone out there, a real will to get off the ground, crawl all over each other and make the next hit.”