Rugby: Taylor knows all about pocket battleship 'BOD'

Published on Wednesday 11 March 2009 08:58

SIMON TAYLOR has put Scotland on full alert to contain the threat posed by his former Lions colleague Brian O'Driscoll when Grand Slam-chasing Ireland visit Murrayfield on Saturday in the Six Nations Championship.

The 29-year-old back rower has faced Ireland often enough in the course of a 64-cap career to know just what might happen if the man nicknamed 'BOD' is given any scope for adventure.

"O'Driscoll controls a lot of what goes on in the Irish team as well as doing a lot of good stuff himself. It is important he isn't given too much time and no tackles are missed on him," said Taylor.

Pocket battleship O'Driscoll – he stands 5ft 9in and weighs in at 15 stones – will be gaining his 92nd cap with 35 tries among his 190 Test points. Many of those scores have come from an ability to shrug off tackles with a seemingly low centre of gravity as noted by Taylor, who added: "The first tackle on O'Driscoll is particularly important. If you miss that he is so dangerous."

Fortunately the message seems to have got home in the past few years despite chequered fortunes for the Scots.

Scorer of four tries in his first three starts against the men from Caledonia, O'Driscoll has failed to register a point in the last seven meetings.

Overall, Taylor maintains it is important Scotland do not take a backward step. "Ireland might be in position to go for a Grand Slam but the one certainty is that Scotland will have just as much motivation on Saturday.

"That will stem from never wanting to lose, particularly at home. What we have to do is match Ireland physically."

Expecting a gauntlet to be thrown down Taylor says: "Ireland love to hold on to the ball through a lot of phases and see if you are going to match up to them. That means when we have got the ball we have to take it into contact harder.

"When they are in possession we have to stand our ground."

This will be the fourth time in five matches that Scotland have fielded a back row combination of Taylor flanked by John Barclay and Ally Strokosch.

And former Herioter Taylor believes the combination is evolving well.

"John is a fairly classic open side while on the blindside Ally is a big hard guy who runs hard and puts in a lot of tackles so I think we have a fairly decent blend and for sure I enjoy playing alongside these two."

What cannot be underestimated according to one of only a handful of survivors from the only Scottish win over Ireland in the Six Nations this decade, by 32-10 in 2001, is the confidence boost from victory last time out against Italy.

"It is no exaggeration to say that you do feel better after getting a win but as regards Italy we spent only a little time afterwards analysing what we did.

"Mainly it was a case of a quick look back before moving on with most of the focus during the past fortnight on Ireland."

Taylor also believes he is much fresher for the change of scene when it comes to facing Ireland for the first time since joining Stade Francais in 2007.

He said: "It's fair to say I get an extra buzz out of the fact the Irish players are less familiar to me than they used to be. There's a bit of the unknown attached to the fixture this time round, an extra excitement, which is good.

"It's the same with the fact I have been playing some of my rugby with Stade in the second row.

"That has meant learning new things and it is true where I'm concerned that variety is the spice of life with lessons to be taken with me back to No.8."

Meanwhile, Ally Strokosch has played down the fact he was one of the few Scots required to play last weekend in putting in a shift for Gloucester. "I don't like sitting out and I'm not a very good spectator," said the ex-Boroughmuir star whose Six Nations career goes full circle a year on from his tournament debut in the fixture at Croke Park, Dublin. "So it went without saying I was happy to be in the mix at club level last weekend.

"It has been an eventful year all right but I believe I can draw on experience of playing Ireland previously.

"I know they will play in a similar style to Munster who have the best pack in Europe.

"What we have got to be ready for is Ireland trying to eke out a lead and then gradually add to it. They'll try to keep the ball in edging ahead until the opposition have to start trying to play catch-up.

"If that is allowed to happen Ireland can be particularly dangerous as you try to close any gap."

Scotland: Paterson (Edinburgh), Danielli (Ulster), M Evans, G Morrison, T Evans (all Glasgow), Godman, Blair, captain (both Edinburgh), Dickinson (Gloucester), Ford (Edinburgh), Murray (Northampton); Locks from J Hamilton (Edinburgh), A Kellock (Glasgow), N Hines (Perpignan), J White (Sale). Back row: Strokosch (Gloucester), Taylor (Stade Francais), Barclay (Glasgow). Subs: Hall, Low (both Glasgow), AN Other, Gray (Northampton), Cusiter (Perpignan), Southwell (Edinburgh).

Ireland: R Kearney (Leinster); T Bowe (Ospreys), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, captain), G D'Arcy (Leinster), L Fitzgerald (Leinster); R O'Gara (Munster), P Stringer (Munster); M Horan (Munster), R Best (Ulster), J Hayes (Munster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), P O'Connell (Munster), S Ferris (Ulster), D Wallace (Munster), D Leamy (Munster).Subs: J Flannery (Munster), T Court (Ulster), M O'Driscoll (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster), T O'Leary (Munster), P Wallace (Ulster), G Murphy (Leicester).