Schmidt just happy to have O’Driscoll on board once more

The ink had hardly time to dry on Brian O’Driscoll’s new one-year contract yesterday when Joe Schmidt was asked if there was any chance of the 34-year-old being persuaded to double the duration and play on through to the 2015 World Cup.

Schmidt chuckled at the suggestion, one made only slightly tongue in cheek, but the enquiry summed up even more than the IRFU’s statement and chief executive Philip Browne’s gushing words just how O’Driscoll’s influence continues to thumb its nose at Father Time.

“If you just suggest that to him, I think that would be fine!” said Schmidt.