By Bryn Palmer

O'Driscoll insists his men can handle the pressure

Captain Brian O'Driscoll insists Ireland can cope with being labelled favourites for the Six Nations title.

"It is just a tag," he said. "I don't think it necessarily affects the players. Maybe it affects the Irish public a bit more than ourselves.

"But I would like to think we are a big enough and mentally strong enough team to deal with that.

"Hopefully we will learn from two years ago when we were named favourites and didn't achieve what we set out to do."

Interview: Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll

After finishing runners-up to England in 2003 and claiming a Triple Crown in 2004, Ireland were unable to live up to their billing in 2005, losing at home to France and again in Cardiff as Wales clinched the Grand Slam.

But O'Driscoll's men clinched another Triple Crown last season and after a highly impressive autumn featuring comprehensive wins over South Africa and Australia, they are in fine fettle for Europe's annual showpiece.

If you can generate momentum early on you give yourself a chance of coming out on top Eddie O'Sullivan

Coach Eddie O'Sullivan has warned though that harking back to those victories will do nothing for their Six Nations prospects.

"We did achieve a certain level of performance that we are very happy about," he acknowledged. "But the Six Nations is a much more difficult tournament than an autumn series.

"It is much more intense, there is more pressure, and it is a very tight competition.

"If we live off what we did in the autumn we are not going to go anywhere.

"The Six Nations is all about momentum and if you can generate it early on you give yourself a chance of coming out on top.

"But if you don't start well, it can be very difficult. We need to park the autumn and get on with the job of what is in front of us."

There is so much passion and history to Croke Park, there is an aura about the place Brian O'Driscoll

Ireland's opening fixture will certainly help to avoid any complacency, returning to Cardiff for the first time since a painful experience in 2005.

"We were beaten there two years ago by a rampant Welsh side," O'Sullivan recalled.

"I expect them to deliver more of the same, and our task is to make sure that doesn't happen.

"Cardiff has become a very difficult place to get a result, not just for Ireland. It is going to be a difficult day out."

If Ireland do emerge victorious from that opening encounter, the momentum O'Sullivan craves will certainly be established ahead of their first Test at the 82,300-seat Croke Park, when France are the visitors, followed by England.

"We have put Lansdowne Road to bed for now but we are certainly not down-grading," O'Driscoll added.

"There will be an extra 30-40,000 behind us and I don't envisage there being any difficulties. It is still in Dublin, it is still home and if anything I think it will heighten the public's excitement, being there for the first time.