Gerry Thornleyin Paris on how a French newspaper profile of Eddie O'Sullivan has caused anger in the Irish camp
L'Equipe, the prestigious French sports daily newspaper, has been accused of running a smear campaign against the Irish team on the eve of the crunch France-Ireland game this week, but their rugby editor, Arnaud David, has rejected the allegation.
In addition to its regular sports coverage, the newspaper has been running a 10-page supplement each day throughout the World Cup, and interest in the Ireland team has obviously intensified in the week of the match.
Maintaining that it was "the Irish tabloids" who generated the storm over a sentence concerning rumours over the private life of one of the Ireland players in Wednesday's paper, Arnaud stressed that "it was one sentence deep into a piece about the selection of the Ireland team, and the non-selection of Peter Stringer was of far more importance to the article".
Yesterday's L'Equiperan a profile of Ireland head coach Eddie O'Sullivan on page five of its rugby supplement which drew comparisons with French coach Bernard Laporte, under the heading "Eddie, le 'Bernie Irlandais", and which Arnaud described as "a balanced and good piece of journalism". He said the somewhat frenzied reaction was possibly because some of its contents were lost in translation.
"Eddie O'Sullivan n'est pas Irlandais," began the profile, explaining: "On the green isle, when you are asked if you are well and what's happening, you should answer 'not too bad'. Eddie O answers 'good' or 'bad'. Always direct.
"And when, on Monday, he was asked if it was acceptable to use the term crisis, he answered, 'yes, it is a crisis'. Effectively, the team, which has never played as badly since he took over the job in November 2001, is going through a strange phase, after a troubled start with wins which have been less than energetic against Namibia ((32-17) and Georgia (14-10).
"Drops of sweat appear on the coach's anxious forehead because the Irish Federation (sic) have given him one objective: reach the semi-finals of the World Cup for the first time. If Ireland don't find their playing level tomorrow evening, that objective will probably not be reached.
"But more importantly, basically, O'Sullivan has his critics. O'Sullivan was sufficiently shrewd - or political - to succeed in the feat of signing a new contract until 2011 (re-evaluating from €250,000 to €350,000 annually) even before the opening ceremony. And, looking at it more closely, one says to oneself that if O'Sullivan was a little bit taller and he exchanged his square glasses for round ones, he would be a perfect copy of Bernard Laporte."
The profile continues by suggesting "the similarities don't end there: with a taste for the right word and a good turn of phrase, an accent you could cut with a knife, charismatic, with his staff standing to attention, distrustful of the media", and, above all, the same desire for "revanche sociale", which literally translates as social revenge.
In explaining this observation, the writer charts O'Sullivan's modest upbringing as one of six children in Youghal, in Co Cork, which forged his character, and then charts his playing career and his coaching career.
"Drawing on his time as backs coach to the United States, O'Sullivan shares American Football's meticulous attention to detail.
"Eddie is ambitious. But he is not that way just for himself. He is also ambitious for his country."
O'Sullivan, it is written, sought to end the days of Ireland relying on its "fighting spirit", and is credited with improving the physical conditioning and mental strength of the team.
"To this end, he demanded and received strict control of Ireland's professional players. Stronger, he wants to revolutionise the game of the Irish three-quarters while leaning on the golden generation of O'Driscoll, Stringer, O'Gara, Horgan and later, D'Arcy, and transformed the mobility of the forwards (O'Connell, Horan, Leamy). Inspired by American football, he asks them to play "pattern rugby", rugby that at the same time is programmed and logical."
Bit by bit, O'Sullivan's methods worked, and Ireland's major victories under his tenure are listed. "But, since August, his critics have re-appeared, comparing his team to the Titanic, and orchestrating the chairs." Going out in the pool stages would damage his stated intention of coaching the Lions in 2009.
"O'Sullivan, who has a purple belt in karate and has some deafness in his right ear, is never a quitter."
