O’Driscoll can make the difference amid Leinster injury woe

It says much about the continuing allure of the Munster vs Leinster rivalry that 46,280 people turned up at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday night to assess how Rob Penney’s more expansive game plan would match up to the more established wide threat posed by the European champions.

Two superb tries, one from Ian Madigan, playing out of position at full-back due to Leinster’s ever-increasing injury woes, and a Brian O’Driscoll special which showed conclusively that age has not impacted on the flexibility and ingenuity of the Special One, underlined Leinster’s continued brilliance with ball in hand.

O’Driscoll’s five-pointer in the corner of Lansdowne Road was a carbon copy of the one he scored late in the second half of Ireland’s pool game against Australia in Melbourne at the 2003 World Cup that almost produced the shock result that was finally delivered in Eden Park at the 2011 instalment of the global showpiece.