Tuqiri targets O'Driscoll
Australia centre Lote Tuqiri believes he can play on Brian O'Driscoll's weaknesses.
Australia centre Lote Tuqiri believes he can play on Brian O'Driscoll's weaknesses to win their midfield battled against Ireland on Sunday.Tuqiri is a relative novice at outside centre but he and Aussie skipper Stirling Mortlock will try and snuff out the talented O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy in the Irish side.
27-year-old Tuqiri admits that O'Driscoll and D'Arcy are superb opponents, but believes he can make the most of the weaknesses the Aussies have spotted in the Irish skipper's game.
"Brian is the number one in the world but I still think there are certain parts to his game where we can get at him," said Tuqiri.
"There are one or two things there and hopefully on Sunday we can reveal that. The coaching staff have analysed him pretty well and we know their centres drive the Irish team.
"Stirling Mortlock and I have a big task on our hands to shut O'Driscoll and D'Arcy down.
"I think we can do it, but more importantly I'm just hoping it is a free-flowing game."
Former rugby league man Tuqiri has been converted from a winger to a centre during the Wallabies' European tour, which has so far been disappointing.
A 29-29 draw with Wales was followed by a struggling victory in Italy and Tuqiri believes the squad needs to find a killer touch.
"This side continues to lack the confidence to really put it on teams," he told the Sydney Morning Herald. "We had to step up last week against Italy and we just didn't do that. We were talking about it in the dressing rooms and then came out and played dumb footy and got dished up right from the word go.
"There's a problem we have in not being able to back our chat up with what we do on the field.
"A major spur of this team is to get that mental edge, which may have been lacking in the past. We have to develop that killer punch.
"We're trying to change that. And the only way we can do that is by getting in and ripping in.
"That is one of the goals of this tour and for a change rather than talking the talk, we must let our actions do all the talking.
"I do want to be involved in turning this team around."
