RUGBY:SUCCESS, AND with it raised expectation levels, can have their disadvantages too – Grand Slams in first campaigns under new coaching regimes for Wales (2008) and Ireland (2009) being cases in point.

But, while both have struggled to adjust to more rarified environs, the Welsh public and pundits alike appear to be emerging quicker from their ensuing downward and critical trend.

On foot of an eight-match winless run, successive wins away to Scotland and Italy have seen them turn a corner. Typical of Welsh rugby, which lurches from the extremes of despair to hope with little in between, now their camp talks of taking on anyone in the world.

But despite near identical results, the Irish camp has been continually fending off what they patently see as a prevailing air of negativity, obliging them to talk of their best game being frustratingly out of reach amid a barrage of recrimination, both outside and within, over their vexed penalty count. As an aside, Wales have conceded one penalty more (36) than Ireland (35).

The advent of “tweeting” has, invariably, also brought one or two Irish players closer than they would like to some of their more anonymous critics. Hell will probably freeze over before Irish rugby will ever see the like again of Brian O’Driscoll who, for the last dozen years, has been a model of remarkable consistency and brilliance.

And it’s not just the record number of tries, captaining his country over 70 times, three high-quality Lions tours – in every game for Ireland he has always put his body on the line, sometimes frighteningly so. The go-to gamebreaker has also been the first man in the trenches. Yet even he has not been immune from the barbs.

An aspect to all of this, perhaps a little surprising, is how even experienced campaigners can take criticism to heart. In O’Driscoll’s case, he is additionally motivated by a desire to protect his players – more so, one ventures, than of a mind to defend himself.

Asked if the prevailing mood within the Irish camp was one of frustration or excitement, he declined the former and added: “We’re looking forward to it (Saturday’s game) and I really don’t see it as we’re in a bad a position as a lot of the negativity that has surrounded the team (suggests). I think some of it has been justified but I really think that has clouded over the scores that we’ve created and the amount of tries that we’ve managed to score in the Six Nations and there hasn’t been much of a reference to that.

“I’m the eternal optimist and that’s what I play on, what positives we can take of games. What’s the point in dwelling on the negatives? If we can outscore teams three tries to zero then I think it’s a small fix in getting our discipline right and that excites me.”

Asked where he thinks this “negativity” emanates from, he said: “I think it filters from punditry to people reading papers and then the general public. There’s a percentage of people that have a very good understanding, and then there’s a large portion of people that knows what’s going on in the game, but do rely on what is said to base their opinions around and it’s kind of a regurgitation of those.

“If people are dwelling on the negative, that is going to be the overriding feeling or mentality of people. I think that’s been a little bit misplaced in the last few games. There’s plenty of good things to be spoken about, but they’ve kind of been shelved away. There’s non-stop talk about the discipline, and of course it’s an issue, but a fixable issue.”

Wales and Ireland have also had a slightly tetchy rivalry in recent times, and the familiarity of the Lions tour is unlikely to dim that too much. “It’s the same as playing provincially against your own team-mates in Ireland,” said O’Driscoll. “You shelve everything for 80 minutes and normality resumes after that. But there won’t be too much pally pally on the pitch.”

However, the Lions tour assuredly generated new-found friendships and respect, not least between O’Driscoll and his Lions’ midfield Test partner Jamie Roberts. “Yeah, a talented footballer, great ball carrier, a big hard physical guy and he uses his size really well,” said O’Driscoll “He’s the sort of guy who accelerates into tackles, and knows what his power possesses so he’s definitely a player of a very good calibre and getting better with the more Test matches he plays, so yeah, he’s a big threat.”

And then there’s the legend that is Shane Williams. “I think Wales really tick when Shane Williams is playing well for them. He gets his hands on the ball a hell of a lot more than most international wingers and he has big moments in big games for them.”

All negativity aside, O’Driscoll’s enthusiasm for this game was palpable and in a stadium he clearly revels playing in.

“It’s very, very loud,” he stressed, citing the 2005 game when the roof was closed. “All joking inside, the fresh air can help from that point of view too, but it’s definitely one of the best stadiums in the world to play in because of the atmosphere and the noise generated there, and because the crowd is right in on top of you.

“A lot of guys who have played there before have good memories. The Munster boys have two Heineken Cups there, we have a Slam to remember from the last time we were there, so it’s not somewhere we love going to but it’s not somewhere that we fear going to.

“It’s a game that’s up for grabs depending on whether you play better than the opposition. And they’re the sort of odds you want going into any game.”