O’Driscoll eyes ‘special’ Ireland display

IRISH skipper Brian O’Driscoll yesterday admitted his side can “do something special” in New Zealand.

Eddie O’Sullivan’s side face the All Blacks in the first test on Saturday and the captain is adamant that Ireland are not overly reliant on himself and O’Connell.

Said O’Driscoll: “It’s not about me and Paul. You only have to look at the other guys in the team and see what they’ve achieved. It’s just a very good side in every aspect, and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

He also paid tribute to Munster’s Heineken Cup success and Ulster’s Celtic League triumph. “I’m really excited playing with these guys because they’re excited. The mood in the camp is amazing. There is an air of confidence and that can only be good when translated from provincial into international rugby.”

He added: “Things have gone well this season. As a national side, we feel that we are going to be very hard to beat if we click together. This tour gives us a great opportunity to expand our game and do something special. It’s much better coming here on the back of what Munster, Ulster and Ireland achieved this season.”

O’Driscoll revealed that Munster’s never-say-die attitude had been passed on to Ireland, specifically in their thrilling win over England at Twickenham.

“Yes it looked as if the game was over, but we didn’t think so. England did, and that was maybe their mistake. I think, the more this particular team plays together, the more we realise what our potential is.

“I’m not saying we are the finished article, but with experience, the more difficult situations we find ourselves in the more capable we are of digging our way out of trouble. Against England, we knew we had to create something, we went for it from well inside our own territory and managed to do it.”

He continued: “It’s that mindset that you have to have when you’re playing teams like England, the All Blacks, South Africa, Australia and France. If you’ve done something like we did in Twickenham, you know that you’re capable of doing it again. The big thing is that you’ve got to find yourself within touching distance of these teams come 75 minutes.”

The Irish captain did, however, describe Saturday’s game as the biggest challenge of his career. Having missed virtually all of the Lions tour and the Irish game against the All Blacks in November through injury, he pointed out: “I always see every game as a major challenge, but it’s something special when you get the opportunity to play against New Zealand.

“I was disappointed to miss out on the Lions games, but my chance has come around now and I’m looking forward to proving I’m up to playing against a side of this calibre.”

A year on from that Lions tour and a lot of water under the bridge, O’Driscoll harbours no grudges against the New Zealand players involved in his career-threatening injury, Tana Umaga and Kevin Mealamu. Umaga has since retired, but O’Driscoll would be happy to enjoy a drink with him at any stage of the tour.

“I won’t be travelling to Wellington to meet him, but if he’s around I would sit down and chat with him,” he said.

But O’Driscoll has more pressing matters to attend to and that is to attempt to beat the All Blacks for the first time in 19 matches in a series dating back to 1905. He is aware of the pitfalls, but paid tribute to Irish coach Eddie O’Sullivan when he said: “I think Eddie has been really smart with the quota of training we have been doing as against the rest periods required at this stage of the season.

“When we met up last week, he realised that there was no point in trying to get us kick lumps out of one another. It was more about trying to get patterns together, trying to work on a semi-contact basis so not to beat ourselves up. That was done on the basis that there would be plenty of time for that over the next three weeks; we know that this tour is going to be tough, so you’ve got to be right going into the series,” he said.