Six Nations Diary: I'm wary of the French. They're a quality side. People have written them off, but they'll come out all guns blazing. I don't know much about forward play in terms of individuals, but I think they have a far better backline than England and they have Serge Betsen, who can nearly destroy any team in the world.

People are always giving out about Yann Delaigue, but I think he offers control - which is sometimes underestimated at test level. He probably organises the team around him very well and I thought he was on fire for the first 50 minutes against Wales. I've played against him in the European Cup and he's a good player.

He's been around the block, and it's hard to beat experience. Yannick Jauzion makes a big difference to them too. He's a great player. He just glides. They're always waiting for him to do things. He's nearly their key man at this stage.

They have an offload game that England don't have in the backs. You just have to tear into them from the off, especially the forwards. We're at home and if you ever needed a good start it's this weekend.

On the Monday night after the English game Eddie gave a great presentation.

We won the game, but there were areas we underperformed, and he and Mervyn Murphy highlighted the areas where we were inaccurate. It shows there's plenty more in the tank to dip into, which is a good sign in a team too.

Eddie has a nice go at the meetings. It cuts you down to size, but definitely improves you as a person and a player if you can absorb that criticism and get on with it. It was a very productive meeting for about 45 minutes and then the English game was shut. We didn't do anything wrong without the ball, which is nearly the first time you could say that, but we're aware we have to control the ball a little bit more - that's an area we've worked on.

I was absolutely wrecked after the England game. Mentally, I had probably prepared for a Saturday game and I had to extend the focus for another day, which was draining. Physically, it was a shattering game too.

All that was combined with my 50th cap, so I had all kind of concoctions poured into my drink by my team-mates. Maybe it took a little bit longer to recover and I lay low last weekend. I took Thursday off, kicked Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Musgrave Park, and did weights on Saturday. There was no one to kick with as the Munster boys were playing a Celtic League match on Sunday, when we came back into camp.

Alan Gaffney had come up to the Radisson the week before to tell the Munster lads in the Irish squad he had been offered a job with the Wallabies and he was 95 per cent sure he would accept. It's great for him.

I think he'll have fond memories of Ireland and of Munster, and we'll have fond memories of him too. He's a very nice man outside of rugby, and he's a very good coach. He's taken on all our games and opened up areas of improvement in all of us. He's a smart man and it's a smart move for him.

The news of Christian Cullen's shoulder injury is devastating. I was talking to him on Monday night and he was gutted. For a fella who has achieved so much in the game he still felt he had a point to prove. It's been on his mind that he came over here injured and he's been getting a bit of grief, stupidly, from people outside of rugby. He's a massive loss to us.

He's such a quality player that he's irreplaceable, but knowing the pro he is he'll be back in the minimum amount of time for next season, and I'll be looking forward to getting back playing with him.

Monday was the birthday, the 28th. Time is moving on. When I came into the squad I was only 21. I was very thankful there was a large contingent of children at the training in Naas last Monday, so I couldn't be stripped and dragged around the pitch.

I came down to dinner and there were balloons and hats. My room-mate, Donncha, had made the effort of organising a nice cake for me.

We had a song and dinner, and then back to reality again. It's been a normal test week, the only difference being we've had Clive Woodward in the camp. He's kept a low profile at all the sessions and team meetings, but it's fair to say everyone is keen to impress.

People nearly take for granted Ireland are going to win these games, which is very dangerous. But I don't think fellas in the squad are thinking this, or feeling the pressure. It sounds stupid, but one game at a time is the way you have to take it. We need to be as intense as we were up front against Scotland and England, and take that up another level.

We probably need a level of intensity with the ball that we haven't seen yet this year. We need almost to forget what numbers we are, getting Maggsy running at them, and interlink that with Paulie, Simon and Axel running at them, and then use Drico going wide. We've got to mix it up, just basically keep going at them; attack, attack, attack.

That's they way I view this game.