Hopes high, but backs still to the wall

In essence we are being asked by the Irish team to show patience. As Brian O'Driscoll and his team face into a possible Triple Crown and championship win, we are sceptical.

The media are quick to pull a long face, but if Ireland, with Welsh help, get the mathematics right and a win over England this weekend, there's not a lot we can tip over the head of coach Eddie O'Sullivan and O'Driscoll - unless we award a prize for the least-spectacular championship win.

Teams have won tournaments by defence before, but without pre-empting the outcome against England in Twickenham, the overriding sense outside the close-knit Ireland squad is that the team need to perform with more panache than they have done. We are asking for art as well as graft.

Again it is fair to say the pack have delivered, but yesterday's focus, as O'Driscoll lined himself up for a quick-fire round of questioning, went something like, "Great defence (France aside), lads, but where are the fireworks?" The Irish captain conceded some ground but his bat was as straight as ever.

"I'd have to say I'd prefer to be in my backline than the English backline," he loyally declared. "That's not stirring things up. That's just the way things are. I think we've got extremely talented players and potentially a world-class backline once we click. It's a matter of going out and doing that now.

"It's about how you perform together with different pairings, different partnerships. Continuity helps and Rog (Ronan O'Gara) and Strings (Peter Stringer) have been there a while and myself and Darce (Gordon D'Arcy). But I think individually we have really talented players. I feel that when that day does arrive that we click, hopefully it will entertain a few people."

Nobody openly disagrees, and if those talented players are growing frustrated, the captain is not about to admit it. That despite the fact he is Ireland's talismanic attacker.

Nor is he about to talk about too many passes fluffed, or breaking down under pressure, or speed of ball, or predictability, or execution. Nothing so dramatic.

"I don't know, it's hard to put your finger on it," he says. "I think individually and collectively we just haven't performed well enough. In training things have gone well but on the day it just hasn't happened. You have to take games like Scotland out of the picture because of the conditions. Against Italy we were marshalled well. We clicked somewhat in the other games but not quite to the standards we know we are capable of.

"It's a matter of all seven of us (backs) concentrating for 80 minutes and every single time running the right line and making sure our skill level is of Test standard."

Whose Test standard is the question. New Zealand's? South Africa's? England know all about an impatient media - now more than ever. The derailed chariot's crisis point was reached last Sunday in Stade de France. Will it be a backlash for Ireland or an English team again buckling under the tyranny of transition and "world champion" status?

"Essentially it can work both ways," says O'Driscoll. "It's bad for us because now there is pressure on them. Alternatively, had they gone and played well they would have been booming with confidence. I don't think you can pick whether it's good or bad news for us.

"Their defence is known for being watertight. I'm sure Phil Larder will be getting into them having conceded three tries. I think it's massively a confidence thing. If they get on a roll they have great potential.

"Yes, their back division has been a little like ourselves. They haven't quite fired like people have predicted, so I don't think they are a million miles away from clicking these days. I hope we're the ones who click before them.

"We're going into the last match with the potential to win a Triple Crown and a championship," adds the Irish captain. "If you asked us before the competition if we'd be happy with that, I'm sure we would have nodded an approval."