A Rugby Miscellany compiled by JOHNNY WATTERSON

"We're not going to win it – let's not be stupid about things. It's just unrealistic."– Italy coach Nick Mallett refuses to indulge in the 'anything is possible' school of thought with regard to his team's chances of winning the Six Nations Championship

Drico must try harder: One more to equal record

BRIAN O’Driscoll’s 44th-minute try brought his total to 42 for Ireland, a record, naturally, for the free-scoring centre. The touchdown also brought the Irish captain a step closer to the Six Nations Championship record, which stands at 24 tries and is held by Scotland’s Ian Smith. O’Driscoll in second place with 23 and Welsh flyer Shane Williams is third on 20.

Making it over the whitewash two more times in the four remaining matches could leave O’Driscoll with yet another landmark score.

*THE respected Euan Murray was another tighthead prop under pressure in Scotland's match against France in Paris. At around the half-hour mark one scrum took four minutes to complete and, would have taken longer had referee Wayne Barnes not handed France a penalty try for Scotland collapsing it for at least a third time. And all that even though the Scots were 6.5kg per man heavier than the French – for the non-metric that's about a stone.

As Scotland halfback Chris Cusiter said at half-time, the scrum really needs to be looked at by the law men in the sport or it’s in danger of losing people’s interest.

Five or six poor scrums on a pitch that cuts up easily could account for almost a quarter of the match.

Time check: Statistics can tell a different story

FULL disclosure. This column is queasy about statistics, the way they are compiled and particularly the way they are used. In France’s match against Scotland, France made no errors from kicks, zero errors, while Scotland made two. What’s an error from a kick?

Is the Garryowen collected by the opposition fullback and used as a counter-attack marked down as a kicking error?

Is a grubber kick by a centre through the defence that is not picked up by one of his own players an error, or is it a ball won in open play, or is it a turnover?

One stat we can be sure of is how long the ball is in play. That’s a stopwatch job. France were in possession for 12.31 minutes in the first half and 16.55 minutes in the second half. Scotland had it for 14.34 minutes in the first half and 11.06 minutes in the second. In total the ball was in play for 54.26 minutes.

So for over 25 minutes the ball was dead. Combined with the scrums, lineouts and penalties, that’s a fair bit of dead time. Then again, maybe the watch was stopped for them. Statistics.

*GERT Smal was on RTÉ on Saturday talking up the tighthead prop position in this country. Name-checking John Hayes, Mike Ross, Declan Fitzpatrick, Jamie Hagan (both of whom played against England Saxons), and Tony Buckley, Smal might have raised a few eyebrows when he said: "I still believe Tony can be one of the best tightheads in rugby."

In fairness, the former Springbok has been consistent about the potential of the big Munster prop. It’s just a difficult to see as Buckley is struggling to get his start with the province and with Ireland.

Doughty Diego: Italy miss their dual kicking star

WEEKENDS like this and you feel that Nick Mallett would love to have a player like Diego Dominguez, who has the distinction of playing for two international teams. You feel the outcome on Saturday may have been different had Dominguez still been around.

The former outhalf earned two caps for Argentina and 74 with Italy.

In 1986, Dominguez toured France with Argentina, but saw his game-time limited by Hugo Porta. After the tour, he played for a year in France, and then moved to Milan, making his Italian debut in March 1991 against France. He went on to play in three World Cups, 1991, 1995 and 1999.

A great kicker, Dominguez continues to hold a Heineken Cup record with 12 conversions for Stade Français against L’Aquila in October 2000.

He also set the record for most penalty goals in a match when he landed nine for Stade in the 2001 final against Leicester.

The opposition for his last international match wore green shirts, as the master kicker finally bowed out in 2003 after his final game against Ireland.

Gatty's gaff: Hartley only heartened by loose talk

MAYBE it is time Wales coach Warren Gatland started to keep his opinions to himself prior to matches. He caused consternation before when he said his players disliked their Irish counterparts more than any of the other teams. He later retracted it, sort of.

Last week, before Wales’ first match, he questioned the temperament and character of England’s Dylan Hartley. But the England hooker, rather than wilt, set out to prove the Kiwi wrong, as you would as a player.

“I got a big boo when my name was read out. I am just happy with how I played. That is the best answer to anything that was said in the build-up to the game,” said Hartley.

“I put a lot of pressure on myself to prepare well and show the lads I was right for the game. He singled me out to be a choker under pressure and questioned my lineout ability.”

The 26-19 scoreline in England’s favour should be enough to keep the former Irish coach quiet for some time. Then again . . .