O'Sullivan works with depleted squad

For those who could manage it, Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan took his depleted Six Nations squad through their paces at St Gerard's School in Bray today, but said afterwards his main concern was for those who weren't in attendance.

Niggling knocks, some more serious than others, from a dour weekend for Irish rugby, meant Isaac Boss (shoulder), Frankie Sheahan (calf), Rory Best (calf), David Wallace (back), Mick O'Driscoll and Peter Stringer (both elbows) all sat out today's training session.

However, it's Malcolm O'Kelly who is O'Sullivan's primary concern.  Ireland's most capped player is struggling to get over a knee injury, and as it stands, is a fresh doubt to face Wales after the loss of Shane Horgan, Rob Kearney and John Kelly.

"We're a bit worried about Malcolm," said O'Sullivan. "He's got a problem with his knee and that's dragged on a bit. He's probably the one that is most concerning at the moment."

Ideally the Ireland coach would have preferred to welcome a cheerier bunch of players back into the international set-up but, such were the weekend's results, that was not the case. Nevertheless, there may be a silver lining to the unusual postmortem of four crushing provincial defeats.

"It's a good dose of reality", added O'Sullivan. "We often think when things are going very well, we're invincible, so it's probably a good shake-up for everybody that we realise that it doesn't take much for things to go wrong."

"Then, you know, the lads came into camp after four defeats, which is very rare, and they're down in the dumps over it so we've got to pick ourselves up and get focused on the Six Nations.

"It's not going to change the fact that we are playing in Cardiff on Sunday week."

O'Sullivan isn't panicking over set pieces that went wrong in Thomond Park and Kingsholm at the weekend and claims the squad is "aware" of the things that need to be fixed.

"They worked well in the autumn. Just because they went a bit awry one weekend in the Heineken Cup is no reason to panic, but again, it's good to focus the mind."

O'Sullivan is all too aware that Ireland will need plenty of focus for when their campaign gets underway at the Millennium Stadium. The coach has a great deal of respect for Welsh rugby at the moment and sees this year's team as one that could repeat the success of two years ago when they clinched the Grand Slam against his Irish side in the final game in Cardiff.

"I think the Welsh squad at the moment is quite strong.  They have had a good autumn as well.  Things have gone well in the Magners League and the Heineken Cup.

"So, I think Welsh rugby is in rude health at the moment," noted O'Sullivan. "There's no easy games in Cardiff now. I think everybody finds that."

Unlike many observers O'Sullivan is also careful not to write off England, having witnessed three Irish teams lose to Premiership opposition at the weekend.

"There is never a bad English team," he warned. "One English team might be better than another but when we look back over the last few years we've beaten England, fortunately in the Six Nations, but they've all been by one score. Every year has been a down to the wire game and you write England off at your peril."