O’Driscoll hurt, doubtful

O’Driscoll suffered the injury during Leinster’s disappointing 23-22 home European Cup loss to the English club Sale at Lansdowne Road last week, and is now a major doubt for Ireland’s clash with France in Paris on Feb. 14.
It has been confirmed that the star center will miss the remainder of Leinster’s pool games in Europe. However, not surprisingly, the Ireland management has not ruled the possibility of O’Driscoll returning to fitness in time to face the French. Coach Eddie O’Sullivan has already lost his talisman Wood, while record try-scorer Denis Hickie is also out for the rest of the season following an injury suffered during the World Cup, and Geordan Murphy is currently recovering from a broken leg.
“I wouldn’t give up hope on him yet,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s a hamstring tear, but it’s not a recurrence of an old injury which is something, so we’ll see how rehab goes. It’s certainly a worry, but it’s too early to be making any hard decisions.”
With such an alarming deficit, O’Sullivan will be hoping against hope that O’Driscoll is cleared to play. Meanwhile, in the wake of Leinster’s slip-up against Sale, their coach, Gary Ella, is now acutely aware that his team will have to beat either Biarritz or Sale away from home to keep hopes of qualifying for the quarterfinals of the competition alive.
On the back of two previous victories, Leinster were right to be confident about their chances of maintaining a 100 percent run, but the injury to O’Driscoll early in the game, which was compounded by the unavailability of regular out-half Christian Warner, meant that Ella’s side lacked any genuine semblance of an attacking threat. Trailing by 20-13 at halftime, Leinster had by far the better of the second half yet they were unable to score the try that might have changed the course of the contest.
By contrast, they were in deep trouble during the opening half as stand-in playmaker Matt Leek struggled to impose himself on the game. Brian O’Meara kicked a first-half penalty and converted a Reggie Corrigan try following a steal by Keith Gleeson and Gordon D’Arcy dropped a goal, but Leinster still found themselves seven points in arrears at the changeover as Sale ran in two tries.
Gradually, O’Meara’s accurate kicking edged Leinster in front, but with nine minutes of injury time remaining, Sale’s Charlie Hodgson landed a vital drop goal to put Sale one point clear. The home team had time to rectify the situation. However, their efforts to save the game were pockmarked by a series of errors.

ULSTER 33, LEICESTER 0
On a weekend when Munster were comprehensively beaten at Gloucester, it was left to Ulster to fly the Irish flag in Europe and in a first-ever game on a Sunday in their spiritual home of Ravenhill, Belfast, David Humphreys and his teammates stunned former two-time champions Leicester, running out winners by 33-0.
Despite a Rev. Ian Paisley-led protest outside the ground against the fixture going ahead on the Sabbath, a full house of 12,000 spectators put sport before religious tradition to cheer their side on to a remarkable victory which sees them go to the top of Pool One.
Even though Leicester are not the force of several seasons ago, the presence of 10 internationals in their starting lineup, including England’s World Cup-winning forwards Neil Back and Ben Kay, meant that they couldn’t be taken lightly and with the advantage of a strong breeze, Ulster stormed into the attack.
Wing Tyrone Howe crossed for an early try after an intelligent Humphreys kick to set the tone, and then the outstanding Andy Ward charged over for two more tries to leave Leicester in complete disarray. Humphreys converted both Ward’s efforts and added three penalties to make it 28-0 at halftime.
“I’d say that was our best performance since I’ve been in charge,” coach Alan Solomons said. “We spoke before about the necessity of everyone being on their games and I’m pleased that everyone delivered. Now it will take an incredible effort when we go to Leicester.”
If Ulster were anticipating a second-half backlash, it never materialized and the bonus point for scoring four tries was secured within minutes when Shane Stewart touched down. Leicester pressed and pressed, bringing England?s World Cup captain Martin Johnson off the bench, but Ulster’s defense held firm.

GLOUCESTER 22, MUNSTER 11
There were no celebrations for Munster, who lost to leading English club Gloucester by 22-11 at Kingsholm. However, they still have a strong chance of securing maximum points from their three remaining games against Gloucester at Thomond Park, Bourgoin and Treviso. That scenario would almost certainly ensure that Munster book a place in the last eight.
This time it wasn’t as if they performed poorly, it was just that Gloucester were superior in most areas of the pitch. If the try count was equal at one each, the winners had so much territorial advantage that it was no surprise that the impressive Henry Paul was able to kick three penalties and a drop goal.
“No two ways about it, they were the better side,” admitted Munster coach Alan Gaffney, “and for us to come out one try all was the one thing I could take out of the game. They were much cuter and smarter and we’ll just have to bounce back in Limerick next week.”
The losers only scores came from two Ronan O’Gara penalties and a try by wing Anthony Horgan.

EURO CHALLENGE CUP
GALWAY 29, PAU 7
In the European Challenge Cup, Connacht performed impressively in the first leg of their second-round game in Galway, comprehensively beating French side Pau by 29-7. The winners’ tries came from Johnny O?Sullivan with two, Matt Mostyn and Mike Swift, and Dave Hewitt, who was selected ahead of veteran Eric Elwood, contributed three penalties.
“Happy with that,” reflected coach Michael Bradley, “but we knew they were missing four or five key players and we were conscious that we needed to try and build up a bit of a score because their record at home is flawless.” With aggregate scores over the two legs counting, Connacht now go to France for the return match with a 22-point lead.