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BORDEAUX - Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan has told his team to spare no mercy to Pool D minnows Namibia and Georgia at the World Cup.
Having been drawn in the same group as hosts France and the dangerous Argentina, the Ireland coach knows that huge victories are imperative.
With just two teams to go through to the quarter-finals, the pool could be decided by points difference and that's what is driving the Irish coach as well as the need for the Triple Crown holders to improve on their warm-up matches where they lost to Scotland and squeezed out a last-minute win over Italy.
"Given the tightness of the group, and in the event of ourselves, France and Argentina losing one game each, which is a possibility, we could have a situation where points difference will determine the group," said O'Sullivan.
"Against the two perceived weaker teams in the group, Namibia and Georgia, there is an opportunity to create a points difference.
"I remember at the 2003 World Cup, we played Namibia early in the pool, in Sydney under a lot of rain, and we scored a reasonable amount of points, but they kept the score down.
"When Australia played Namibia later in dry conditions, they put on 142 points. That could have been an issue had the pool turn out differently."
Ireland have been buoyed by the speedy recovery of skipper Brian O'Driscoll who missed the warm-up against Italy after the 28-year-old suffered a fractured sinus and damaged cheekbones after a punch in the face against French club Bayonne on August 16.
Initial signs were that he would miss the Namibia game on September 9 and Ireland's second match against Georgia on September 15 but now the man regarded as one of the best centres in the world is raring to go.
"If the team needed any morale boosting, this is it," said the coach.
"It's always good to have Brian on the field, he's a talisman. Ideally, he would have played all of the warm up games."
O'Sullivan, who has guided the Irish to two Six Nations Triple Crowns during his tenure, has been keen to play down the significance of the warm-up ganes.
"Against Scotland, it was just two of our starting 15 in the Six Nations, against what was a strong Scottish team," he said.
"The Italy game was disappointing because we didn't really get into a rhythm. We identified the area at the breakdown where we could not clear ruck ball.
"So we have put a lot of work into that area."
- AFP
