Australia captain Rocky Elsom today revealed his admiration for Brian O’Driscoll’s player of the tournament contribution to Ireland’s Grand Slam success. Elsom and O’Driscoll were team-mates at Leinster last season with the Wallaby back row proving instrumental in their march to Heineken Cup glory.

“Brian’s a handy player! He’s been a part of every bit of success this Ireland team has had,” said Elsom. “This Ireland side has been building for some time but hit its straps last season.

“If you look at the Six Nations Brian couldn’t have done any more than he did. He did things that were part of his game like making clean line breaks but also scored a couple of crucial pick and drive tries, which wasn’t necessarily his role.”

Elsom pinpointed Ireland’s back row of Stephen Ferris, David Wallace and Jamie Heaslip as one of their main threats tomorrow.

“They have a pretty strong back row all round. They were by far the best back row in the Six Nations and they’ll be good again,” he said.

The northern hemisphere sides have traditionally been schooled by their Tri-Nations rivals during the autumn but France’s 20-13 over South Africa last night has given Europe hope.

Wallaby coach Robbie Deans, however, refuses to buy into talk of Sanzar dominance.

“We recognise and respect the fact there isn’t much in it,” he said. “The moment you think there is something in it, it bites you. The moment you presume, you’re in trouble.

“You only have to look at what happened last night to see the reality.”