Pre-Match Quotes: Eddie O’Sullivan

Click here for quotes from Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan from Saturday’s pre-match press conference at Lansdowne Road.

…Eddie O’Sullivan at a blustery Lansdowne Road…

EDDIE O’SULLIVAN QUOTES:

– ON ANDREW TRIMBLE’S INCLUSION –

“Andrew’s slotted in fine. I’ve always tried to look at our backline outside of 9 and 10 – the specialist positions – that we have players that can play in a couple of positions because I think that makes us a stronger unit.

“Shane Horgan can play on the wing or at centre, Gordon D’Arcy can play wing or centre, or even full-back at a pinch. Geordan (Murphy) can play full-back or on the wing. Andrew is a centre but I think he could be a good winger as well.

‘He (Andrew) has the speed and the aggression for that position. He’s played there for Ulster this year and done very well, so he’s quite happy there. There are adjustments to be made but we’re talking about international footballers here and the adjustments aren’t that dramatic.

“Once the set-piece is over, and you’re into the second or third phase, the number on your back because irrelevant really.”

– ON A WIN SETTING UP THE POSSIBILITY OF A TRIPLE CROWN –

“I don’t think it’s something we’re going to dwell on. It’s not an issue at this stage. If we win our next two games we can talk about winning a Triple Crown.

“It’s like two years ago when it was only after we won at Twickenham, and there was one game left, that we started talking about Triple Crowns.

“You park the whole notion of winning a Triple Crown until you’ve only one game to go, and it’s for a Triple Crown. So this is only the first game and it’s not something we’re talking about at all.”

– ON THE WELSH GAME PLAN –

“Looking at it up front, the forward confrontations are going to be pretty important. Then, if we break even there, breaking the gain line is going to be vital. I think it’s going to be about setting out your markers early on in the game.

“Personnel wise, I think they (Wales) have what they believe is the edge at half-back and in the back row, so that might influence how they want to play the game. I expect them to have a go at us all over the pitch, but at the moment, they’ll also feel that they have the edge in the scrum.

“They did pretty well there against Australia and Scotland so I think they’ll have a real go at us in the scrum.”

– ON THE ERRORS MADE AGAINST FRANCE –

“We had to look at what happened (against France) and why it happened. Like any coach, you have to focus on making sure that you don’t make the same mistakes again.

“There’s a reason for every error in a game, but it’s not something that we got hung up on to be honest, because in fairness to the boys, they were pretty uncharacteristic mistakes.”

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