Vindicated O'Driscoll asks Ireland for more

Brian O’Driscoll will not hesitate in removing a player from the ruck in Paris on Saturday, after being cleared of stamping by the citing commissioner this week.

Post-match on Saturday, O’Driscoll was adamant he had done nothing wrong, despite Italy coach Pierre Berbizier demanding whether stamping was now allowed in the Six Nations.

Berbizier’s comments referred to an incident which saw O’Driscoll remove Fabio Ongaro out of the way of the ball.  In doing so, the captain was found to have raked down and away, and not straight down on the player.

Asked on his thoughts on the decision the Leinster centre said he was not surprised and "wouldn’t think twice about it" if it were called for in Paris.

"Having reviewed it on the video footage I thought it was perfectly legal and the right course of action was taken by the citing commissioner," he said.

"It was all within the rules of the game, there was no foul play intended.  I was clearly there to try and get the man off the ball, as the referee was indicating a penalty, and he (Ongaro) was wrongfully there.  So, I think it speaks for itself.

"It’s an instinctive part of my game. I don’t think it will make me think twice about it."

O’Driscoll explained that if he were there he would have expected the same and said it is common place that people don’t move for fear of greater loss than a penalty and three points.

"Sometimes people can take that option, wanting to give away penalties because they are in trouble elsewhere. You sometimes have to take a bit of punishment there and not roll off, its part of the game."

Looking ahead to Paris and what to change for what is going to be a far tougher challenge, O’Driscoll finds it difficult to identify what went wrong in the first place.  As his coach pointed out repeatedly, Ireland won the game.  Sometimes that is all that matters.

"I really find it difficult to put my finger on it," he said. "I felt we went really well in training, the mood in the camp was very positive, everyone was upbeat about it."

"We are going to have to push out performance up, certainly 20 or 30 per cent next weekend, if we are to live with the French," he said before commenting that "if we won ugly again, we’d be perfectly happy,"

The traditional mantra in a situation like this is that France will be out to prove a point.  Beware the backlash, and so on.  O’Driscoll’s sentiments are no different, though he does take his pointers for the game from the French autumn campaign and not last weekend’s defeat to Scotland.

"French sides in the past have been accused of travelling badly, one thing is for certain, they always play well at home," he said.  "They are always a different side when you play them in Paris.  I think you take much more on board from what they did in November, than you would [from] last weekend.

"There is pressure on the French team, there is pressure on Bernard Laporte and when your backs are against the wall you have a tendency to improve your performances.

"I have been in that situation myself and you tend to dig a bit deeper when asked to."

O’Driscoll knows that even though a trip to Paris is on the cards, if there is no sign of that 20 or 30 per cent he spoke of, there will be Irish backs against the wall as well.  A tight contest is the very least Eddie O’Sullivan and his players need after the opening fanfare in Stade de France.