Rugby/South African Tour News: Compared to previous years, much of the Irish squad have had to dust off the cobwebs in advance of a summer tour. Accordingly, coach Eddie O'Sullivan has been cranking up the physical intensity in training this week though he could hardly have bargained for the warm-up providing yesterday's most notable casualty.
The limbering up was drawing to a close and the hard work had yet to begin when Brian O'Driscoll's back went into spasm. Immediately there was a concerned retinue around the prostrate Irish captain, including his cousin and team doctor Gary O'Driscoll as well as physiotherapist Ailbe McCormack.
Ireland's record try scorer was barely able to get to his feet and looked fairly ghastly thereafter as he spent the remaining hour and a half of the session lying on the tackle bags. Later, O'Driscoll was able to walk off the team bus and into the City West hotel, albeit gingerly, and hopefully will be fit and ready to travel come Saturday, but O'Sullivan looked and sounded a little concerned.
"He's obviously off his feet now and I haven't had a report yet from the doctor but it improved over the time of the session. I don't know how it happened or why it happened but it's not a tear and it's something that will probably settle down. I'm not unduly worried at the moment."
O'Driscoll joins a lengthy list of injured players. Geordan Murphy (slight hamstring strain), Reggie Corrigan (bruised knee), David Wallace (hip) and Malcolm O'Kelly (knee), as well as standby player Victor Costello (bruised knee) all required various amounts of precautionary rest over the last two days.
All of these are knocks which players brought to the pre-tour camp as opposed to the effects of "the heavy stuff" which O'Sullivan feels they have to do before departure.
Much of yesterday's open session concerned the contact area, with continuity coach Brian McLoughlin (currently coach at RBAI) overseeing a drill which focused on clearing the ball away from rucks, and Mike Ford supervising an extensive defensive work-out.
"I don't expect it to be any more physical than the Six Nations. I think the Six Nations is right up there but the Springboks will be very physical. They always are and I think at the start of a new regime under a new coach they'll be very fired up.
"It's an intimidating place to play, nowhere more so than Bloemfontein in the first Test," added the Irish coach. "So I expect it to be quite physical and we're preparing mentally and physically for that sort of encounter."
With new South Africa coach Jake White liable to bring a sea change in approach, from boot camps and raw steaks to a more enlightened and all-encompassing brand of rugby as well as much changed personnel, it will be much more difficult for O'Sullivan and the Irish think tank to get a handle on these remodelled Springboks.
"It's extremely difficult to know what they'll do or where they'll go. I think you can pretty much take anything that's gone before and tear it up. So it's an open book from our point of view as to how they'll attack and defend. We don't know for sure, so we've got to keep our options open as well."
The four South African Super 12 sides performed quite credibly compared to recent years, and having been in camp for three weeks, O'Sullivan expects White to use certain combinations from those outfits as well as bucking previous trends in picking overseas players such as Leicester's Jaco van der Westhuizen.
"He's really a ball-in-hand flyhalf, very elusive, great at creating gaps and offloads. What it seems to me, and this would reflect on Jake White as a back, is that they'll play a running type of game, particularly in Bloemfontein, which will be a hard ground, dry and at altitude. Having been at altitude for three weeks they'll try and use that to their advantage against us."
They will travel on Saturday, but will be based initially at sea level in Cape Town - where the weather is unpredictable - before travelling to Bloemfontein two days ahead of the first Test.
"You do one of two things. You do what they do, and go in two or three weeks in advance, which isn't an option for us, or you go in at the last minute. You don't go in a week before, as then you get problems adapting to altitude.
"It's standard procedure, all the Super 12 sides do it. Late in, or early in. We don't have the very early option," said O'Sullivan.
Most of the Irish squad have had a relatively relaxed end-of-season run-in. Even Munster's European Cup semi-final was over five weeks ago.
"It's not the ideal preparation in terms of getting match-fit, but I suppose our injury profile is actually very good at the moment if all these (injured) guys come through, and I expect they will.
"The only two people who weren't available for tour selection were Denis Hickie and Keith Gleeson, which is very unusual. If you think back to last year we went to Perth without eight of our team and the year before six of the team didn't make the trip to New Zealand. So I suppose it's a trade-off for having a more leisurely finish to the season," admitted O'Sullivan.
And, after this most intense of World Cup seasons, no less than the players themselves, O'Sullivan is probably grateful for that. With Ireland's first autumn Test against the Springboks at home, O'Sullivan likens it to something of a three-Test campaign, and admits that rarely will an Irish side have travelled over with such "a good chance" of recording a first win on South African soil (though there have only been five Tests there).
"I wouldn't run away from that. We've pretty much the team we'd want on the plane. We've had a really good Six Nations. We've won 10 of our last 13 Tests, we've been in good form and it's a good way for us to go on a trip like this.
"Can we now replicate our form from the Six Nations in South Africa? Hopefully the answer is yes, and if we do I think there's a good chance of us winning a first Test on South African soil. That's a good target to set for ourselves."
By O'Sullivan's pre-match standards, this was quite bullish, and it assuredly reflects the mood in the camp.
Forwards
Simon Best (Ulster), Shane Byrne (Leinster), Reggie Corrigan (Leinster), Simon Easterby (Llanelli), Anthony Foley (Munster), John Hayes (Munster), Marcus Horan (Munster), Eric Miller (Leinster), Donncha O'Callaghan (Munster), Paul O'Connell (Munster), Malcolm O'Kelly (Leinster), Alan Quinlan (Munster), Frank Sheahan (Munster), David Wallace (Munster).
Backs
Gordon D'Arcy (Leinster), Girvan Dempsey (Leinster), Gavin Duffy (Harlequins), Guy Easterby (Rotherham), Shane Horgan (Leinster), Tyrone Howe (Ulster), David Humphreys (Ulster), Kevin Maggs (Bath), Geordan Murphy (Leicester), Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), Ronan O'Gara (Munster), Peter Stringer (Munster).
Standby
Emmett Byrne (Leinster), Victor Costello (Leinster), Leo Cullen (Leinster), Neil Doak (Ulster), Shaun Payne (Munster), Bernard Jackman (Connacht), John Kelly (Munster), Paddy Wallace (Ulster), Roger Wilson (Ulster).
Irish management
Head coach: Eddie O'Sullivan. Forwards coach: Niall O'Donovan. Manager: Brian O'Brien. Defensive coach: Mike Ford. Fitness coach: Mike McGurn. Kicking coach: Mark Tainton. Team doctor: Gary O'Driscoll. Physiotherapist: Garrett Ropbinson. Masseur: Willie Bennett. Baggage manager: Paddy O'Reilly. Press officer: John Redmond.
Itinerary
First Test: South Africa v Ireland, Bloemfontein. Saturday, June 12th. Referee: Tony Spreadbury (England).
Second Test: South Africa v Ireland, Cape Town. Saturday, June 19th. Referee: Joel Jutge (France).
