Allegations over Ronan O'Gara's private life appeared yesterday in what O'Driscoll claimed was the start of a dirty tricks campaign.

The growing hostility between the French media and Ireland intensified this morning when an astonishing character assassination on O'Sullivan appeared in one paper.

In it O'Sullivan was nicknamed 'The Dagger': "The type of suspicious person capable of asking you for a table knife and later planting it between your shoulder blades."

The slurs have left Ireland smarting ahead of tomorrow's do-or-die clash in Paris, which is being viewed by both sides as a straight shootout for a place in the quarter-finals.

The Irish have closed ranks around O'Gara with skipper O'Driscoll declaring the insult had been taken "personally" by the whole team.

"We're a very tight-knit group. We've all been together for the best part of three or four years, give or take one or two people," he said.

"We've developed very strong friendships and when you see a slur on someone's personality and private life, not on their sporting ability, you take it personally yourself.

"You wouldn't wish that on anyone, least of all someone on your own team. So we'll put it in the pot. We don't forget easily. It'll be used as extra motivation.

"The team will give the person in question the extra help he needs, even though he's one of the strongest people I know.

"If you're a cynic you could say the story was an attempt to knock things up in the days building up to the game - to throw a few sparks around the camp and unsettle us a little bit.

"But we're a bigger team than that. We're not going to let something so stupid and so unfounded shake us. It will galvanise us more than anything."

News of the personal attack on O'Sullivan did not emerge until after today's press conference, but following 48 hours of silence Ireland were ready to rally around O'Gara this afternoon.

O'Sullivan revealed the Munster playmaker had taken the story in his stride and declared hosts France could end up being the biggest victims of the accusations.

"He was a bit upset with what happened. It was an attack on him on a personal level, which was totally unfounded as well," said O'Sullivan

"There was no evidence of anything like that. It was just really nasty stuff. But he's a tough individual.

"He's a guy who can focus better than any other person I know. It's not going to put him off. If anything, it will make him more determined."

O'Sullivan continued: "The players were upset about what was written in the French media. And I would say I'm upset about it as well.

"It was a disgrace that has angered people more than upset them. It might be a good thing at the end of the day because we are in the lion's den a little bit.

"For the French media to decide to go down that road a few days before a game I thought it was, well, I won't used the word I have in my head, but pretty annoying to say the least.

"I'm delighted that the Irish media didn't jump on the bandwagon. It just shows that in the Irish media we've a much higher level of integrity when it comes to sports journalism."

It was a rousing performance from O'Sullivan and O'Driscoll, who came out with all guns blazing towards the end of a week that has seen Ireland attract unprecedented levels of criticism for their dire displays against Namibia and Georgia.