‘No sitting back’ for rougher, tougher O’Driscoll

MICK O’DRISCOLL returned to Ireland from a two-year stint with Perpignan rougher, tougher and wiser, attributes that have proved invaluable for Munster in the last 10 weeks.

He has been to the forefront for a solid Munster pack in both the Celtic League and Heineken Cup and on Saturday again threw down the gauntlet to the injured Paul O’Connell.

O’Driscoll is revelling in the competitive environment in the Munster engine room. He revealed: “one of the main reasons I came home from France was to experience days like this. I’m lucky enough to be in the side at the moment.”

But, he added: “A lot of people are saying I’m in because Paul is out injured, but you still have Trevor (Hogan) sitting on the bench. It’s good for me to be in the team and in a way I’m putting pressure on Paul, while Trevor is putting pressure on me.

“Then you’ve got Shane O’Connor and Donncha Ryan coming up as well and they’re putting pressure on Trevor. It seems to be working that way at the moment and the competition is good from all points of view.”

O’Driscoll admits to having used his limited French to help Munster combat some of Castres forward moves, particularly working out their line-out calls.

If he savoured the victory, he also enjoyed the fact Munster kept a clean sheet with a remarkable defensive display in a late 10-minute spell.

“We seemed to be on our own line for an age, but our defence was magnificent, especially when we went down to 14 men. I thought the yellow card for Shaun (Payne) was harsh, but we had to get on with the game.

“It was hugely physical during that spell; there was no margin for error, but the great thing is that we were able to front up to everything they threw at us.

“When we look back on it, I suppose we’ll think it was pretty remarkable, but we were being encouraged by Steady (defensive coach Graham Steadman) from behind the posts and we were shouting at each other, saying ‘they don’t score, they don’t score’.

“I think that’s what this team is all about; at that stage we were over 20 points up and we were going to win anyway. Yet, there was this amazing determination not to concede a try.

“We contested their line-outs, we contested on the ground, kept the defence tight and turned them over a couple of times. Some of the tackles were awesome; it was about organisation, but also about pride.

This Heineken Cup challenge out of the way, O’Driscoll barely has time to draw breath as Munster prepare for a Celtic League game in Cardiff on Friday. “This one is over; now we face Cardiff and we want to do well in both competitions.

“We’re doing well in the Celtic League and it’s important that we go there and treat the game with the same importance as we did this one against Castres. There can be no sitting back. We want to continue winning, and, with the international players on duty elsewhere, it gives some of the other guys an opportunity for game time and the chance to press for regular places in the team.”