Ireland Catch-Up With O’Connell & Murray

Munster scrum-half Conor Murray looks head to Ireland’s impending clash with France on Saturday while Irish captain Paul O’Connell praises his provincial team-mate Tommy O’Donnell on an impressive outing against the Italians in Rome.

While not the fluid and dominant performance one might have expected from the defending 6 Nations champions in the Eternal City, Murray remains happy with the win (and the points difference of 23 that could prove crucial in the championship) but knows the men in green will need a step up in performance as they welcome France to the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

"It's after one game and there's a few little areas where we were a small bit rusty on that we have to get right. We've been in camp for a number of weeks and over Christmas so we're probably a bit frustrated the way things turned out in the end. But we won and we managed to get the job done.

"France are probably the same. I imagine they're in camp this week with the exact same mind-set, trying to fix a few areas and turn out a really good performance which is what's in our heads."

"This weekend is a huge challenge and we've got a few areas to improve so that's our set-up for the week. We needed a big week at training to get little things right which we didn't [last Saturday] and then we can kick on.

"It's a massive step up from the weekend. You saw the standard set between Wales and England. That's the really high standard set for the Championship. The Italy game will not be good enough to beat France this weekend. I know from playing against Clermont – against top quality players like (Wesley) Fofana and (Camille) Lopez who can change a game in a moment.
“They've got a lot of quality and can be really dangerous if you let them attack and leave them space. But looking at the weekend against Scotland, they won ugly and that's a sign of a good team."

Meanwhile, captain O’Connell was both delighted and unsurprised by the positive showing of Tommy O’Donnell at the Stadio Olimpico. A hamstring twinge to Sean O’Brien in the warm-up saw O’Donnell presented with his first 6 Nations start, going on to score Ireland’s second and pick of the tires in Rome.

"Tommy's stats all year have been incredible and sometimes powerful guys find it hard to combine the power with the fitness, but he's one of those rare kind of guys that has both of them.

"I've seen it at Munster for the last few months. Every time I get off the ground he seems to be either carrying the ball or tackling someone. I think a big part of his thing is how well he prepares.

"For a guy like Tommy to come in at the last minute like he did today, you'd have absolutely no worries because he prepares incredibly well for games. I'm disappointed for Sean – it was great to see him back after the long journey he's been through.

"But at the same time I was delighted for Tommy and delighted to see him score the try. He makes those big carries with Munster a lot, and it's great to see him do it for Ireland."

Ireland v France, 2015 RBS 6 Nations, Saturday February 14^th at the Aviva Stadium – KO 5pm.

This game will be televised on RTE2. Follow the action on Twitter also: #IREvFRA #ShoulderToShoulder