Gareth Charles' predictions for Ireland V Scotland

A fortnight ago before the Wales V France game I said a familiar pattern was emerging to Wales' RBS Six Nations games in 2010. Well nothing much has changed has it?

So what can we expect this time round? Well, to celebrate Brian O'Driscoll's 100th cap for Ireland, the penultimate game in Croke Park before returning to a renovated Lansdowne Road, and with Ireland still in the hunt for a Triple Crown, what about...?

Wales give a parting gift of a 20-point start. Then Shane Williams will begin to shine in the second half and Wales will run in four unanswered tries to end real party-poopers! Wales have become almost predictable in their unpredictability.

Certainly, when the game breaks up late on and Wales' superior fitness levels come through, they are an extremely difficult team to defend against.

But what of the opening hour? Once again France were more than happy to stay out of rucks and mauls, stay off tackles, fan wide and pick off interceptions, leaving Wales too great a mountain to climb as happened in Twickenham and as almost happened against Scotland.

And if France were happy to sit back and let Wales force the pace, what price Ireland? It'll be a case of: "come on, show us what you've got".

Ireland were happy enough to let England have as much possession as they liked, especially with England's recycling seemingly organized by a sloth on tranquilisers!

There were 99 tackles made by Ireland, just one missed, but crucially three clear-cut chances created three tries scored - the kind of clinical finishing Wales would currently die for.

At Croke Park on Saturday there will be two extremely talented back lines but the confidence that comes from finishing and winning could be a telling factor.

Up front Wales are hoping the return of hooker Matthew Rees will stabilise the set piece, which unexpectedly creaked a little against France, and provide a launch-pad for another returnee, number eight Gareth Delve, to show the dynamism that has typified his performances for Gloucester this season.

Delve needs to be prominent to keep quiet possibly Ireland's most potent force - an outstanding back-row trio of Stephen Ferris, Jamie Heaslip and David Wallace who dovetail together so superbly.

Unfortunately statistics show that if Scotland beat England at Murrayfield (unlikely but not impossible) Wales, who went into the first Saturday of the Six Nations hoping for a Grand Slam, could be going into the last Saturday fighting to avoid a Wooden Spoon.

When you're inches away from greatness but inches away from gloom, Croke Park is not exactly the ideal place to be going.

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Murphy flavour of the Irish month – Six Nations Rugby

IT says much about the transformation of Geordan Murphy’s international fortunes that he’s keeping Lions Test star Rob Kearney out of the Ireland team to face Wales this weekend.

Despite being recognised as one of the most naturally talented players in British rugby, the Leicester full-back was frequently overlooked by O’Sullivan, who tended to prefer the more prosaic qualities of the solid yet far from spectacular Girvan Dempsey.

When Kearney was ruled out of last month’s game against England with a knee problem, it was Murphy who Kidney turned to.

That was despite the fact he’d only made one start for the Tigers after a five-month layoff with a shoulder injury.

He responded with a fine display in the 20-16 victory at Twickenham and has kept his place for Saturday’s Croke Park clash, even though Kearney is now available again, with the Lions ace having to make do with a spot on the bench.

“Rob looked fantastic in training and I thought if he was fit and he was picked I couldn’t have any gripes because he was the guy in possession of the shirt when he got injured.

“I think that’s the way sport is. It generally goes back. So I’m really pleased to be in. I’ve been happy with the way I’m playing.

“I was thrown into the England match with not a lot of game-time, but it went OK and I went and played again for Leicester at the weekend and I was happy with how that went.

“I think I’ve still got a little more to go, but I’m really enjoying it, that’s the main thing, especially having been on the outside for so long. It’s nice to be back involved.”

Asked whether his confidence had been sapped by the previous Ireland regime, he replied: “I don’t know.

“When I picked up my shoulder injury in September I was worried about my place in the squad.

“I fully expect to see Rob on the field this weekend, he’s too good of a player to not be out there. He’s world class.

“But I’ve got to try and play as well as I can and let management make those decisions.

“I’ve always said I want to play in a green shirt and I want to do my best. If I’m an asset then hopefully I’ll get picked. I’ve just got to keep trying to do as well as I can.

“Everyone’s been saying they’re not playing that well , but some of the tries they’ve scored have been some of the best you’ll see in the Six Nations.

“They’re dangerous across the board and when they get to play they have great players like Shane Williams who can score a try from absolutely nothing.

“They’ll probably try and raise that again and they’ve got no fears coming to Croke Park. It’s going to be a very tough match.”

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Beeb needs Scots broadcast, just ask Colin, or rather Chris

IF ever there was a compelling case for BBC Scotland producing its own broadcast for Scotland rugby international matches, it was from Cardiff.

On the occasion of Chris Paterson's historic 100th match for Scotland, he was introduced by BBC presenter John Inverdale as 'Colin Paterson'.

The excuse that this was just a slip of the tongue does not interest me, because

Inverdale went on to call the player 'Colin' again before the match had even started.

If Inverdale does not know Chris Paterson's name after 100 appearances for Scotland, during which he has become the best goal kicker in the sport, he never will.

It was an insult to Paterson to get his name wrong not once but twice as he achieved such a milestone in the game, with only a handful of other players having won a hundred caps for their country.

We then had the commentators twice going on about Alasdair Dickinson's error of judgment which led to his sin-binning. Dickinson must have been wondering about that as well, because he had been substituted some time before his team-mate Scott Lawson was shown the yellow card.

To make matters worse, after having to suffer Jonathan Davies willing Wales over the try-line, we then had to listen to incredible remarks from players after the match about Wales going on to win the championship.

While consistent with similar claims of huge strides being made off the field, the problem is that it is still 'jam tomorrow'. The other difficult fact militating against accepting Johnson's assertion is that it is difficult to see under what circumstances such latent talent will come forth. Having forced Ireland to make four times as many tackles and dominated possession, territory and the set-piece scrums, England are unlikely to be able to have better circumstances from which to challenge the better teams in world rugby. Though they had all this ball, all these positions, they were still outscored by three tries to one and their crossing of the line came from good forward play. When they tried to engage their opponents with a more expansive game plan they were taught a lesson in finishing.

For heaven's sake, they lost to England and then scored with the last move of the game against 13 men. Champions? Champions of Wales, maybe.

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Scotland wing Thom Evans opts to have second operation on injured neck

The Scotland wing Thom Evans will this week have a second operation on his neck before returning home from Cardiff. The 24-year-old Evans, injured in a collision during Scotland's Six Nations defeat against Wales, has opted for the second procedure which the team's doctor, James Robson, said would speed up the recovery process. Evans will not play again this season.

"Thom has been heartened by the many messages of support he has received from around the world," said Robson. "He and his mother have spoken to the surgeons and Thom has opted to undergo a ­further procedure later this week, which will enhance the surgery that has already taken place and provide further stabilisation to his neck.

"This procedure is optional and Thom could have decided to have it done at a later point, or not at all. He's decided to go ahead now and that should help with the whole recovery process. The same surgeons who performed the initial operation will undertake this procedure. Once he has settled from this procedure the expectation is that he will be allowed to return home."

Robson will travel to Cardiff tomorrow to see Evans and the Scotland full-back Chris Paterson, who is due to be released from hospital after suffering bruising to his kidney.

Evans's coach at Glasgow, Sean Lineen, said Robson's quick diagnosis when he treated the wing was crucial. "The surgeons in Cardiff did a great job but I would like to pay special tribute to Lisa Casey [the Scotland physiotherapist] and James Robson who attended to him on the pitch. They say the minutes immediately after such an accident are crucial and the work they did cannot be under-estimated and probably gave the surgeons a good chance to perform a successful operation on Thom, who is in good spirits. It could have been a lot more serious than it actually was."

The Ireland hooker Jerry Flannery will appear before a disciplinary panel in Dublin tomorrow after being cited for allegedly kicking the France wing Alexis Palisson during the Six Nations defeat in Paris. He faces a ban of between four and 12 weeks if found guilty.

The Stade Français prop David Attoub will have his appeal against a 70‑week suspension imposed last month for eye-gouging the Ulster flanker Stephen Ferris heard in London on 2 March.

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Six Nations 2010: Ireland recall victory over Scotland that set the ball rolling

Heaven knows what the so-called Celtic Tiger era was all about, but nothing seemed to epitomise those frantic, party-hearty, naughty, boom years more than Ireland's amazing 27-25 win at the Stade de France 10 years ago.
On a bright Sunday afternoon in March Ireland, without a victory in Paris in 28 years, conjured rugby from the gods. Brian O'Driscoll scored three tries in 80 minutes, which equalled Ireland's total in Paris for the previous 20 years, and David Humphreys, who had missed a kick to win the corresponding game at Lansdowne Road the previous year, nervelessly smacked over the winning penalty three minutes from time.

For Ireland – the sporting nation and the country itself – it was a high point after years in the doldrums and as the new millennium dawned, all dreams now seemed permissible. Much of that has dissolved before our eyes and the economy is in tatters again, but for Irish rugby it really was the beginning of something good, one of the few enduring legacies of the Celtic Tiger.

Admittedly it has not always been the smoothest of paths. Rather typically, at the time, Ireland slipped to a disappointing home defeat against Wales just two weeks after that glorious day in Paris, showing an inconsistency they have had to battle against, and further down the line the 2007 World Cup debacle remains as inexplicable as ever. But that win in Paris undoubtedly provided the emotional juice and inspiration for just about everything good that followed.

"I was just a young kid that day wearing a jersey about four sizes too big for me. I looked faintly ridiculous," recalls O'Driscoll. "I was pretty naive in many ways but that was a really good thing because I had no preset idea as to how big the occasion would be and how big the win was. That came home when you saw all the emotion on the faces of our older players.

"It was another important rugby match at a big venue but there was no baggage or fear as far as I was concerned. It changed my life though. The day we got back I went to a schools cup final in Dublin and got absolutely mobbed for an hour or so by kids wanting autographs, which was entirely new to me. Something very big had clearly happened. It was a huge boost for Irish rugby."

O'Driscoll, Ronan O'Gara and John Hayes remain in the Ireland team from that day, 90+ cap veterans who have fulfilled most of their rugby dreams, although they have yet to win in Paris again, something which is high on their personal agendas on Saturday.

Others, such as Peter Clohessy and Mick Galwey, were experiencing something very special after long years at the coalface while Keith Wood, who had just started his second term as Ireland captain that season, was inspired enough to defy serious groin and shoulder injuries for another three years until the 2003 World Cup.

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O’Driscoll is Irish sports star of the year

It was Vince Lombardi, that wizened sports sage whose advice so often transcended his limited field of Gridiron, who reminded us that “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”

It is no coincidence that Ireland's greatest sporting ambassadors have retained an inextricable fidelity to Lombardi's tenet, none more so that the latest addition to the stellar collection of Irish Independent/Jury's Croke Park SportsStars of the Year, Brian O'Driscoll.

His selection is a representation of the extraordinary levels to which he continually aspires, and the expectations he so often exceed.

Ireland's historic Grand Slam triumph and Leinster's Heineken Cup successes were, of course, team triumphs and last night's winner was the first to deflect the paeans of praise and cite that his was a reward shared by all who toiled with him.

And yet when one reflects on achievements that marked a year of unprecedented success in Irish rugby, it is difficult to eradicate the searing image imprinted upon the events by the imposing figure of Ireland's greatest ever exponent of the game.

Whether it was racing home a 70-yard intercept try with renewed vigour and more trustworthy hamstrings in Rome, or impudently burrowing beneath a stout English pack from an impossibly tight angle close to the try-line, O'Driscoll's interventions were clearly identifiable in their genius and timing.

When destiny rapped its knuckles on the door throughout this extraordinary season — who can forget the almost inhuman physical energy expended during the Lions series? — O'Driscoll answered the call every single time.


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Ooh for ah player like Cantona

SCOTLAND rugby coach Andy Robinson names his squad tomorrow for training at St Andrews next week in preparation for the RBS Six Nations Championship. Evening News rugby writer BILL LOTHIAN gives an insight into what makes the coach tick

ANDY ROBINSON has used footballer Eric Cantona as an example of a sportsman who symbolises the message he is trying to put across to Scotland's rugby squad.

That situation revolved around one of Scotland's least experienced players and it is Robinson's goal to have rookies and stalwarts alike backing themselves.


Also, the former England cap wants players to be regularly asking 'why?'


"Asking why is better than acting like a lemming without knowing how to improve. Lots of players take up positions without thinking. The reason is that they are comfortable there.


"It's about challenging them to get to the next step.


Scotland's defence was lauded in the Autumn and Robinson said: "With a defence that defended the way we did you can attack from deeper.


"There has been some improvement in the understanding of our attack.

"Coaching defence is a lot simpler than putting together a framework for attack. All systems for defence are similar throughout the world.


"One area that we have to develop is peripheral vision with awareness of players around as well as the ability to scan and see."


It is likely that Robinson's initial selection, which will eventually be cut to a matchday 22, will take into account the Scotland A fixture against Ireland in Dublin on Sat Mar 20, 2010

(17:00), when it is likely the selection will be heavily based on the side which thumped Tonga 38-7 at Galashiels in November.

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The opportunity will almost certainly be taken to integrate Euan Murray back into a dark blue jersey, the Lions prop having missed the Autumn Tests due to injury.

He will also delay any entry to the Six Nations at least until Scotland head for Wales on Saturday 13 February because the Sunday fixture against France conflicts with his religious principles.


If Scotland can get off to a winning start against it will be the first time in the Six Nations since Robinson's predecessor, Frank Hadden launched his Test career with a 20-16 win over France at Murrayfield in 2006.


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It’s the right time to move from Glasgow to Cardiff, insists Dan Parks

What had become one of the worst-kept secrets in Scottish rugby finally came out into the open yesterday when both Glasgow and Cardiff Blues confirmed that Dan Parks, the Scotland fly half, will be moving to the Welsh capital in the summer.

At least, with the need for silence ended, Parks was able yesterday to issue a statement thanking the Glasgow fans for the backing they have given him in his seven-year career with the club, while David Young, the Blues director of rugby, could start to explain to his club’s supporters why he wanted Parks.

“He is a quality player who has often been the difference between the two teams and a real thorn in our side on a number of occasions,” Young said. “His organisational skills and game understanding makes him a real general on the pitch and he has excellent communication skills.

“His record as a goalkicker speaks for itself, but his distribution skills are also well recognised. He will certainly strengthen our options.”

For the player it is obviously going to be something of a wrench to leave the place he has called home since 2003.

“Glasgow has been my life for the past seven years,” Parks said. “It’s difficult to leave a place you’ve been for so long, but with so many young talented players coming through, it’s the right time. The Glasgow supporters have been fantastic and have really added to the enjoyment factor of playing rugby here over the years.”

When Young approached Parks, he must have assumed that he would be getting a player who would arrive unencumbered by international demands, but all that may have changed in the last couple of weeks, during which the 31-year-old Parks comprehensively outplayed Phil Godman, the present Scotland fly half, in both the derbies over the festive period while becoming the first player to pass 1,000 points in the Magners League.

Despite that, the change still makes sense for Glasgow. They see Ruaridh Jackson as the long-term future, though Sean Lineen, the head coach, spoke yesterday in glowing terms about the contribution Parks had made to the club. “He is a great lad who just loves playing rugby and has loved playing rugby for Glasgow,” he said.

“He will be missed, his enthusiasm has rubbed off on everyone. He has shown tremendous character to get through some difficult times and I wish him all the best — apart from in the games that we play against Cardiff.”

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