O’Driscoll puts Lions thoughts on hold

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL has put any thoughts of the Lions captaincy on hold as he looks to the international season ahead, starting with some “unfinished business” against South Africa at Lansdowne Road on Saturday.

The trip to New Zealand may still be seven months distant for Clive Woodward's British and Irish selection, but already the Leinster centre is having to cope with speculation that he is the front-runner to succeed Martin Johnson for the tourists' next assignment Down Under.

"I haven't hazarded a thought on it," he said. "You can't really start thinking about something that is seven months away. Rugby is very, very fickle.

"You could be injured in a second and you just have to look at the likes of Keith Gleeson and Richard Hill and all these guys that would have been certainties on the plane and are now struggling.

"That can happen to anyone, so I'm remaining focused on playing with Ireland and playing with Leinster and hopefully, winning with them too. "That'll help us get plenty of guys going on the trip to New Zealand."

O'Driscoll first captained Ireland two years ago in the absence of long-term injury absentee Keith Wood, leading the team to a famous 18-9 victory over Australia at

Lansdowne Road.

He took on the mantle on a permanent basis when Wood retired after last year's Rugby World Cup quarter-final defeat to France in Melbourne.

O'Driscoll's influence on the Irish side has never been in doubt, but when he first took over from the hooker there were suggestions that the role was one burden too many for a player so young and so talented.

One Triple Crown later and no one is peddling that line anymore. Not that O'Driscoll is worried.

"Sure, it's a great title but it's not going to change anything. You just have to try to be as much of a leader as you can and expect the senior players to lead with you. I'm very much of the opinion that less is more.

"I just try to lead by example through my game." The one blemish on O'Driscoll's glittering captaincy CV has been last summer's tour of South Africa when an Irish side arriving with real hopes of winning a first ever test and possibly series on Springbok soil departed only with two defeats to their credit.

O'Driscoll's TV interview in the wake of the second test loss at Cape Town's Newlands Stadium was criticised by some after he said the players would go out and enjoy themselves that night anyway the criticism being that the skipper was taking the defeat rather too lightly.

"I wouldn't concern myself too much with that," is his reply. "As far as I was concerned at that stage, our season was over, there was nothing we could do about the result. Sure we were disappointed but we were going to enjoy ourselves as well.

"I wasn't going to allow the disappointment of losing the game interfere with the fact that we'd had such a good season. People are entitled to say whatever they want, or contort what you say, but I certainly meant what I said.

"Perhaps some of the guys were a little bit jaded but I personally felt I was in good shape and I saw it as a missed opportunity. I suppose then, it's unfinished business (this) weekend. Cliches often explain situations best. We have to be aware that opportunities to turn over the really big sides don't arise as often as you might want so you have to take the opportunity when it comes along."

Having suffered so badly in the scrum and the line-out against Jake White's rejuvenated Springboks in June, Ireland are fully aware of the physical nature of the confrontation awaiting them on Saturday.

And with only one win over the tourists in the game's history, a victory would rank alongside anything this team has achieved under O'Sullivan to date. "Set pieces can't be underestimated because if you don't win set pieces you don't get the ball and you can only defend for so long before you start conceding points.

"That's going to be pivotal again in this game. As for the conditions? All games are won in the tight five.

"It doesn't matter if it's a nice evening in May or a cold winter in November.

"I don't know what our record is against South Africa when we last beat them or whatever but no one on this team has beaten South Africa.

"You want to have that on your CV and it's one of the last barriers facing this Irish team."