Ireland wait but captain doubtful

A dark cloud still hangs over Brian O'Driscoll's fitness to lead out his country on their historic debut appearance at Croke Park on Sunday in the Six Nations against France.

Although a scan on the hamstring he damaged in Ireland's 19-9 win over Wales on Sunday allayed the worst fears of captain and medical staff alike, O'Driscoll's participation or otherwise will probably not be known until Saturday.

Eddie O'Sullivan, understandably, wants to give O'Driscoll every chance but given the nature of hamstring injuries, the seven-day turnaround and the knowledge he would have a further fortnight to recover for the Croke Park meeting with England the odds, sadly, are against him being able to lead Ireland out.

An official IRFU statement last night confirmed the result of the scan on O'Driscoll yesterday showed "a mild strain" to his "right hamstring.

"The injury is not as serious as first feared and O'Driscoll remains in contention for selection against France next Sunday," the statement added. "O'Driscoll will go through a rehabilitation programme in Ireland with the team's medical staff this week.

"A further medical update regarding the injury will be made on Saturday."

Peter Stringer also suffered "a hairline break to a metacarpal in his right hand". The injury will prevent him training early in the week, but he has not been ruled out of the France game. There will be an update on Friday.

There was better news regarding Gordon D'Arcy's groin strain. "The injury has responded well to treatment in the last 24 hours. He will also undergo a rehabilitation programme this week and is expected to be available for selection against France."

Denis Leamy had an abscess incised and drained yesterday and will take part in limited training this week, but is not doubtful for Sunday.

Ten players have been brought into the Irish squad as cover: Bryan Young (Ulster), Malcolm O'Kelly (Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Leinster), Keith Gleeson (Leinster), Trevor Hogan (Leinster), Tommy Bowe (Ulster), Rob Kearney (Leinster), Barry Murphy (Munster), Kieran Lewis (Leinster), Eoin Reddan (Wasps).

O'Driscoll pulled up with all the classic signs of a hamstring tweak when supporting Ronan O'Gara's line break in the 58th minute, and didn't depart until the 74th minute of actual game time. But O'Sullivan, speaking earlier in the day at the squad's Cardiff base prior to their flight home, had no regrets about not taking O'Driscoll off sooner.

"No, I think we managed it very well, actually. We had to be aware of the fact that Gordon had a groin (strain) as well from early in the game, so we had two centres carrying knocks for want of a better word. He (O'Driscoll) was able to function, not at 100 per cent, but he was able to function and we were watching him the whole way through and when we did take him off he felt it tightening up more, so that was the right time to take him off.

"The worst case scenario would have been having to take him off early and then Gordon had to come off as well, and the midfield would have been a bit of a mess, because you've only one guy on the bench who can play midfield. In that context we took him off at the right time."

Reflecting on Ireland's slightly harum-scarum 19-9 win, O'Sullivan admitted: "The game got very loose at times; not exactly what we planned. In the first-half, particularly, we weren't tight enough with the ball in terms of our kicking. Our kicks weren't on target, we let them run back at us. Our discipline was a bit scrappy to start with, and it gave them opportunities for quick taps to come into the game. So really the bottom line was we created a lot of their go-forward from our inaccuracies."

The Irish coach again acknowledged that Ireland will have to improve if they are to beat France. "You have to improve in every game, I suppose, but we'll have to improve those areas I've just mentioned. If we're loose against France we'll have a problem. They'll run back at us as well; they're as good as anyone running back at you. The good thing was that we lost two lineouts of 10, and we took three of their 20 lineouts. The scrums were rock solid; we won 14 out of 14.

"In retrospect, the two areas of our game that were the difference at the end, if you boil it down, was our scrum was rock solid and our defence was rock solid."

In any event, Ireland can now at least concentrate fully on the hugely anticipated first outing at Croke Park. "We've had a couple of runs there and they (the players) are very happy with the surface and the stadium. In terms of the atmosphere, we don't know what it will be like but one of the problems in Cardiff with the lineout was the noise levels at ground level."

O'Sullivan also moved to dispel any fears about the pitch. "It's a very firm surface, which we all know, but it takes a stud, so we had no problems on it, and it's a top of the ground pitch, no doubt about it. Cardiff itself is a great stadium but the pitch is a heavy pitch and you never come off a game out there without feeling exhausted. Next week we might be exhausted for a different reason but there's no issue with the pitch."