O'Driscoll hails heroic Paris display but rues Henry's 'Back' hander
Saturday November 21 2009
IRELAND captain Brian O'Driscoll has offered his support to the international soccer team after their World Cup exit on Wednesday night, questioning Thierry Henry's role in France's controversial victory.
O'Driscoll, who leads out the rugby team against Fiji at the RDS this evening (5.15), and his team-mates watched the World Cup play-off in the team room at their hotel and sent a text to Ireland winger Damien Duff immediately after the game.
"I texted Duffer just after the game, just saying what a privilege it was to watch a performance like that and how they'd done everyone proud," said O'Driscoll.
"It's just a shame it wasn't rewarded the way it should have been. If you go by rule books, essentially, it is cheating. Plenty of sportsmen along the way have bent the rules in their favour. It was probably the second touch that was the one that irked everyone.
"It's one thing trying to control it, but then keeping it in play with the second palm was the one that really got to everyone. So, I don't know, it's open to interpretation as to whether it was cheating or whether it was bending the rules to the extreme.
Boundaries
"There was a similar but different incident in the Heineken Cup final a few years ago with Leicester and Munster. Again, Neil Back certainly bent the rules in his favour and, again, there was a huge amount discussed about it. It's certainly pushing the boundaries; for some people it was pushing it too far, for others it was all part of the game.
"When it happened, I thought a simple free-kick and a possible yellow card if you've seen that. When I saw the panic in Shay's face when he came running out to the referee, you could tell he was contemplating giving the goal.
"When he started running away, it was a little bit of amazement that the whole world has seen this and yet it was really down to two people who hadn't -- the assistant referee and the referee himself -- it was a bit incredulous."
- Hugh Farrelly
Irish Independent
