With France on maximum points from their three games, it seems unlikely that Ireland can now win the championship, but the prospect of a Triple Crown — a competition within a competition involving England, Wales, Scotland and the Irish — plus four victories from five matches will make it a highly satisfactory campaign after what was a disappointing World Cup.
Such was the impressive manner that Ireland achieved their famous 19-13 victory at Twickenham on March 6, and such were the plaudits that dished out to the emerging Gordon D’Arcy, Paul O’Connell, Malcolm O’Kelly and Ronan O’Gara, it was largely forgotten that coach O’Sullivan has been without key players such as the injured Denis Hickie, Geordan Murphy, Eric Miller and Alan Quinlan, while the talismanic Keith Wood has retired.
Not that Irish strength in depth should suddenly be celebrated — it probably can never be given the small number of the country’s adult players — but to make progress with such a long injury list is testimony to the current healthy state of the IRFU’s elite player program.
While the impoverished and downtrodden clubs have their own bone to pick with the IRFU, Team Ireland rumbles on toward Lansdowne Road this Saturday and a confrontation with Italy, who will be quietly confident following their recent win over Scotland.
The Italians are without the highly influential playmaker Diego Dominguez, who has quit international rugby, but if anything the team that former All Black star John Kirwan has assembled is stronger than when Dominguez was the key man.
However, the Irish should be too strong behind the scrum, where Brian O?Driscoll is such a threat and where D’Arcy has been a revelation. Equally, if the Italian forwards are a formidable unit, they should still struggle to subdue O’Connell and his colleagues who dominated England’s vaunted pack.
Murphy should make a return off the bench, and Ireland should make it three wins in succession on the same day as England take on Wales at Twickenham. On Sunday, Scotland travel to Paris with much trepidation.
Meanwhile, Ulster kept up their drive for a Celtic Cup and League double when they defeated the Celtic Warriors 28-0 last week in Bridgend. One point clear at the top of the table, they were much too strong for their Welsh opponents, with David Humphreys contributing an impressive 18 points to the winning total.
There was less positive news for Leinster, who are struggling at the moment as they were beaten 35-24 by Connacht at the Sportsground, while Munster, like Leinster without their Ireland squad players, lost 16-6 away to the Gwent Dragons.