RUGBY:PAUL O'CONNELL remains Ireland's biggest concern ahead of the winner-takes-all Pool D finale against Italy on Sunday after again taking no part in training yesterday. The Lions captain has been troubled by a hamstring strain since his superb performance in the win over Australia last Saturday week.

Although each side knows defeat will condemn them to a homeward journey next Monday, if there is a risk of O’Connell aggravating the problem then the management also have to consider a putative quarter-final the following week if they beat Italy, most probably against Wales, and indeed the prospect of progressing further in the knockout stages.

However, O’Connell has resumed running and the player is still optimistic about returning to training tomorrow after today’s rest day.

Conor Murray and Ronan O’Gara ran through most of the session along with the rest of the front-liners, supporting the likelihood they are set to start ahead of Eoin Reddan and Jonathan Sexton.

Although Andrew Trimble is also pushing strongly for a starting place, otherwise the team seems likely that which started against Australia, presuming that, like O’Connell, Tommy Bowe is also fully recovered from his troublesome calf problems.

If O’Connell is ruled out, one imagines Leo Cullen would remain from the Russian game last Sunday, when he captained the side, given his lineout expertise and experience, with Donnacha Ryan remaining on the bench.

For Ryan, this has been a curious World Cup. He won a hotly-contested race for the utility lock-cum-backrower slot ahead of Mike McCarthy and Kevin McLaughlin, and then was picked in the 22 ahead of Cullen in both of the first two matches. Alas, Ryan was the only replacement not to see a moment’s action in either of the opening two games.

“I wouldn’t shirk the answer, I was disappointed not to be brought on but it was definitely the right decision because they needed every minute they could get, the lads on the field,” said Ryan. “Donncha (O’Callaghan) was doing well, Paul was doing well, and if I was to go on it would have killed another minute when we were chasing a bonus point (against the US) and Deccie was dead right.

“For the Australia game, Seán (Cronin) and myself were talking about it afterwards, it would have been great to get a run and we were so jealous of the lads out on the field but there is no point feeling sorry for yourself, the lads got the job done, they were flying it.”

Cue the Russian game last Sunday in Rotorua, when Ryan’s eventual World Cup debut saw him switched from flanker to lock early in the second half.

“To get into the squad, sometimes I think I’m the luckiest man in the world so you’re foaming at the mouth at the weekend to get going and make it count and when you’re in that scenario, not to give away loads of penalties.”

The prospect of a capacity 26,000 crowd in the enclosed Otago Stadium excites Ryan. “It’s like the Millennium Stadium. It is deafening, the noise effect in there and what I have been hearing from the volunteers, even with 15,000 in there, it is supposed to create a really good atmosphere.”

Whatever about the much hyped scrums, Ireland will be looking to gain an edge in the lineouts, where the Eagles spoiled five of Italy’s throws. “It’s pretty hard to hear lineout calls indoors, so we are going to have to allow for that and see if we can do something about it to make it go as smoothly as possible.”

Indeed, in sharp but relatively mild contrast to the bullish noises emanating from the Italian camp about the scrums, the message from the Ireland camp is to accentuate the many other aspects of the game where Ireland feel they can perform.

In all of this, there must be a slight fear the sheer magnitude of what is effectively a last 16 knockout qualifier for the quarter-finals, will wear Ireland down a little and drag them into a taut arm wrestle, like several clashes of the past with Argentina.

But, according to defensive coach Les Kiss yesterday, bring it on. “There’s a belief in this group, but there’s a tension there because they know that there’s a lot at stake, and I don’t say this lightly. The August part wasn’t as good as we would have liked but there was also an understanding of what we were trying to achieve along the way and there was disappointment in that whole process.

“At the moment, they have a real big opportunity to do themselves a lot of justice in terms of the work they’ve done and also to deliver something. And they talk about it a lot to their friends and family, so if the tension comes in it’s probably because they care so much about the result and to me that’s a good thing. If you care that deeply then tension and anxiety and nerves are going to be a part of it. So I actually wouldn’t be trying to push that away, that’s for sure.”