Brian O’Driscoll has been cautiously optimistic about Ireland’s rugby world cup 2015 campaign following their Six Nations triumph.
The Irish rugby legend revealed his confidence in the Irish team after seeing them claim the Six Nations trophy in Edinburgh on Saturday. He explained that there are a lot of positives to take from the tournament, even from the loss to Wales.
I think it sets us up really well for the World Cup.
You always look at the positives in any loss – the defeat to Wales might prove to be a blessing in disguise.
BOD was fearful that if Ireland won the Grand Slam, that the expectations from the fans might have hindered their performances in the World Cup. However, he still thinks that the nation has high hopes for the team in England next year, but he backs the players to cope with it.
In Ireland, we don’t do middle ground, we’re either top of the pile or bottom of the heap.
If we had won the Grand Slam, going into the World Cup, there would have been an absolutely insane amount of pressure on the boys.
That being said, we’ve won the Six Nations and there’s still going to be that pressure and that level of expectation.
But it’s been a little bit tempered by the fact we did lose in Cardiff, so hopefully it gives us an opportunity to slip in a fraction more under the radar.
O’Driscoll reiterated his faith in the side, particularly in their clinical game plan, and added that if they can keep a clean bill of health, the fans can expect the Boys In Green to go very far in the competition.
We’re playing with a huge amount of confidence, we’ve got a very distinct understanding of what our strategy is and what our game plan is, and everyone’s singing off the same hymn sheet.
If we can be fortunate with not losing too many players to injury I don’t see why we can’t find ourselves in a semi-final – all bets are off when you get to that point.
Hat-tip to BBC
