O'Sullivan tackles ruck with Walsh

Ireland v France:Ireland head coach Eddie O'Sullivan has always said he has never been one to let issues drag on. And so when he spoke on Tuesday night with the New Zealand referee Steve Walsh, who is officiating in Ireland's match against France at Croke Park on Sunday, O'Sullivan got to the point.

Walsh is reported to have told the Wales assistant coach Nigel Davies he would not stand for any so-called "cynical" breakdown tactics in Ireland's clash with France.

The New Zealander ran the line at the Millennium Stadium on Sunday and is said to have taken specific note of the Irish approach to the contact area, where, the Welsh claim, referee Kelvin Deaker allowed Ireland to repeatedly kill the ball.

Davies said he had an "informal" chat with Deaker after the game and Walsh had said he would crack down on Ireland at Croke Park.

"Steve said to one of the coaches after the game that he will be very mindful of that area next week, after seeing Ireland in that first half," said Davies.

An irritated O'Sullivan said Walsh's comments had been "bang out of order" - adding that if there were issues with the way the Irish team played with respect to the laws of the game, Walsh should have spoken to the Irish management, not the Welsh management - and so he had sat down with the referee.

"If he had an issue, he should have spoken to me," said O'Sullivan yesterday at the Irish team's hotel in Dublin. "And he did speak to me. We sat down and had a conversation. I asked to talk to him, yes, but he was happy to do so. I mean we didn't have to drag him along kicking and screaming.

"In retrospect he did say that he was over-zealous in his comments and on mature reflection he probably overstated things.

"It is also disappointing to think that Wales are now blaming the referee for (their) losing the match," added O'Sullivan.

Walsh has had a chequered history and has been twice suspended by the International Rugby Board (IRB), most recently for verbal exchanges with the Ireland winger Shane Horgan - who returns to the starting XV on Sunday - during the Lions tour match against Taranaki in 2005.

During the 2003 World Cup in Australia he was handed a three-day suspension following England's match against Samoa, having been found guilty of "inappropriate behaviour" in the context of an altercation with one of the England coaches, Dave Reddin.

Davies complained many of the Welsh plays last Sunday amounted to nothing because Ireland were allowed kill the ball and that had been one of the key areas Wales had spoken about in their meeting with the referee before the game.

"Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy, in particular, are very good exponents in the contact area. But in my view, it is quite illegal at times - so we spent a lot of time talking about that," Davies told the website Planet Rugby.

"The referee (Deaker) did call on a couple of occasions for (Irish) players to move away - but when they didn't move away he didn't react. I think he must have left his yellow card in the changing room."

O'Sullivan, however, said he was now satisfied he had fully explained his position to Walsh and that the air was clear between them.

"It's been a steep learning curve for him (Walsh) and there were a few careless comments made," said O'Sullivan. "This was an unfortunate thing that happened and, in fairness, he did say to me that he had a problem.

"His mistake was that he told someone in the Welsh camp as well and they hung him out to dry. But now it is done and dusted."

Ireland's vice-captain and possible captain against France (if Brian O'Driscoll's hamstring fails to mend in time), Paul O'Connell, also fired a dart back at Wales for what some might see as whingeing.

"The breakdown was very messy for both sides," said the secondrow.

"They (the Welsh) were jumping through the rucks at Peter Stringer and I don't know how legal that is.

"The breakdown is a hard area to referee but I don't see any problems there at the weekend."