Patience pays off for O’Driscoll

MICK O’DRISCOLL has been a patient man when it came to clinching a starting place with Munster and Ireland.

The opposition for places in the second-row of both sides could hardly have been tougher. Initially, Mick Galwey and John Langford held sway with Munster, then it was Paul O’Connell and Donncha O’Callaghan who stood in his way. Eventually the frustration got to him and he opted for a foreign challenge playing a couple of seasons in France with Perpignan.

Happy he was a better player for the experience, he returned to home and now finds himself looking forward to his eighth Irish cap at the Stadio Flaminio on Saturday as replacement for the injured Paul O’Connell.