Earlier in the week you would have backed Denis Hickie to stretch out ahead of Brian O'Driscoll in their personal battle to top Ireland's try-scoring ratings. That was before the captain declared himself fit for their World Cup opener against Namibia. Tied on 29 tries apiece, by close of business tomorrow night - at the ludicrous hour of roughly 10.45pm local time - you would not expect there to be much distance between them.
The scoreline, though, should be a different story. Namibia will forever be remembered for their 142-0 defeat at the hands of Australia four years ago. The potential significance of that result still resonates with Eddie O'Sullivan, for when his side met the same African nation earlier in the campaign they had to battle against biblical rain to run up a decent total, whereas the Wallabies chased their target in splendid sunshine and on the rock-hard surface of the Adelaide Oval. In the end it did not matter, but the running totals may be an issue this time in what is the toughest pool in the tournament.
"It's an opportunity to create points' difference which might have a say at the end of the day," O'Sullivan said. "I think the priority will be to keep the game very direct and very simple and without complications until we get into a rhythm and develop a platform to play."
The priority for the Namibians will be damage limitation. Since qualification for the World Cup they have benefited from International Board assistance towards getting them up to some sort of speed as fast as possible. The South Africans Alan Solomons and Robbie Kempson have been giving them a hand on fundamentals, and how they have needed it. They were clobbered by more than 100 points by the Springboks last month, a chastening experience for Hakkies Husselman who was parachuted in as coach when the Namibian union sacked Johan Venter before the recent Nations Cup.
They suffered more upset when their hooker Skipper Badenhorst opted to stay in Durban, and Currie Cup rugby, with the Sharks, for family reasons, just before the squad left for France. An amateur set-up such as theirs is not geared for such a body blow, but the captain, Kees Lensing, is looking on the bright side.
"We're going to play our best against Ireland but Georgia is our target in this pool," he said. "We lost to them in the Nations Cup but our conditioning has improved a lot since then." Ireland G Dempsey; A Trimble, B O'Driscoll (capt), G D'Arcy, D Hickie; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, R Best, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell, S Easterby, D Wallace, D Leamy. Replacements J Flannery, S Best, M O'Kelly, N Best, I Boss, P Wallace, G Murphy. Namibia T Losper; R Witbooi, B Langenhoven, P Van Zyl, H Bock; E Wessels, E Jantjies; K Lensing (capt), H Horn, J Du Toit, W Kazombiaze, N Esterhuize, J Nieuwenhuis, H Senekal, J Burger.
T Losper; R Witbooi, B Langenhoven, P Van Zyl, H Bock.
Replacements J Meyer, J Redelinghuys, M MacKenzie, T Du Plessis, J Van Tonder, L W Botes, M Africa. Referee J Jutge (France).
TV: ITV4, 7pm
