O' Driscoll ghost writer explains why he quit

Sports writer Paul Kimmage has revealed Brian O’Driscoll’s decision to give an interview to one paper ahead of another was behind the journalist’s decision to pull out of ghost-writing the rugby legend’s autobiography.

After publisher Penguin Ireland announced it had “regretfully accepted” Mr Kimmage’s decision to quit the project, he explained his decision at a public event in Dublin last night.

“I was due to meet him (Brian) on Saturday but heard through the grapevine that there was a possibility he was going to give a big interview ahead of the Six Nations weekend opener to a newspaper. I spoke to him and said ‘Brian if you are giving an interview before the weekend it would be a big help to me if you could give it to the Sunday Indo’. Him talking to another paper wasn’t going to compromise the book or the Indo but that wasn’t a concession he was willing to make. I felt he was being unreasonable, He felt I was being unreasonable, so we decided to go our separate ways.”