O’Driscoll relishing life in the spotlight
Since he came on the scene, big Micko has had to battle with some of the great second-row artists of the age, men like Mick Galwey, John Langford, Paul O’Connell and Donncha O’Callaghan.
He didn’t always get the call and even departed for Perpignan with whom he also made seven European appearances.
But he is not the type to complain and while he warmed the bench a whole lot more often than he would have liked, he kept his head down, worked at least as hard as anyone until now even a world-class player like Paul O’Connell will have to work his socks off to regain his place once fit again.
“Micko’s record stands for itself,” says long-term mentor, friend and coach Declan Kidney. “He played eight games out of nine three years ago when we won the Heineken Cup. People forget that. Like anybody not making the World Cup, he was disappointed but he put that straight behind him.
“He went to the forefront with Munster and has led us since the pre-season American friendly and has done a great job all year. Lots of fellows get better as they grow older, it’s just a case of having their bodies in good enough shape to be able to do so. I don’t see Micko replacing Paul O’Connell. I just see him playing. It will be interesting to see what happens when Paul comes back.”
O’Driscoll has scored two tries, the more memorable coming against Gloucester in the ‘miracle match’ of January 2003 when he showed remarkable composure in gathering a wickedly bouncing ball close to the right hand corner flag at the Ballynanty end of Thomond Park. But memories count for little with O’Driscoll who repeatedly stresses that while there have been great days in the past, he and the team are now living very much in the present.
“Saturday’s game is definitely one of the biggest I’ll have ever played in,” he says. “It’s one of those must-win games and defines our season. We have a huge opportunity and hopefully we take it. I think we have a very good squad and we want to go out and win things. That starts Saturday..
“If you told me at the start of the season that we’d be 3rd or 4th in the Magners League with a game in hand and that we’d have to beat Wasps in Thomond Park to qualify for the quarter-finals in Europe, I’d probably have bitten your hand off because of the Pool we have. Our destiny is in our hands.
“All we can do is go out and prove to everybody we’re not a team of has-beens which has been said about us in the past.”
Munster, Wasps, Clermont Auvergne and Llanelli has been termed the Pool of Death however, O’Driscoll makes an interesting observation.
He pointed out: “Year on year, the standard in the Heineken Cup is getting better and better. This season there are three groups that are just unbelievable and in each other group there are at least two teams who can easily make the finals. I heard Justin Marshall (the many-times capped All Blacks scrum-half now with the Ospreys) say the Heineken Cup is now a bigger competition than the Super 14. Coming from a fellow like that, it means a lot. Prior to this, we were getting a lot of guys at the end of their careers to come over for a bit of a pay day whereas now they’re younger and younger.
“Doug Howlett could have many more years with the All Blacks but he’s decided to come here and I think that’s testimony to the standard. It’s now very close to international standard. Every week, we’re playing against 15 internationals from different countries.
You can be sure that this evening’s game will be as tough as any international and last Sunday was the same.”
A schools star at PBC, O’Driscoll spent three years with UCC before getting his first Munster “cap” against Morocco in 1998.
It’s been a rollercoaster ride of emotions since but a very happy one as well.
“Had I been told I’d be capped 11 times for Ireland and play 120 or 130 games for Munster, I would definitely have taken it,” he muses. “But now, at 29, I’m hungrier for more. I’d love to win more things with Munster — and playing for Ireland, I don’t have to say what that means.
“Winning the Heineken Cup remains the highlight of my career. It’s what it’s all about. We spent years and years trying to get to that level and to do it was unbelievable. Last year was a massive let-down but the hunger and desire are now back. We’ve obviously got a good side and want to be able to say when we retire that we’ve given it our all and hopefully our all is better than one European Cup medal.
“There’s no crap about us. People are honest and up front about the way things are and as players we are as harsh with each other as anybody could be. Guys are learning that if you make a mistake one week, you just have to rectify it or you won’t be playing the following week.”
I believe O’Driscoll has rarely if ever played as well as he did against Clermont Auvergne on Sunday. His athleticism at the line-out was special and he was to the fore in just about every facet of the game. Yet, he is probably an automatic first choice in the side only because of the long-term injury to Paul O’Connell. It’s a situation he has often found himself in the past and was one of the reasons why he left for Perpignan.
He recalled: “At that stage, I had spent five years with Munster, I wasn’t starting many games and you don’t want to be sitting on the bench.
“The competition was unbeatable. There were five or more of us for two places. I made the decision to give something else a shot for a few seasons and I loved it. People tell me it made me a better players but I don’t believe that. It broadened my horizons but it was just that I played more games in a shorter space of time. And that’s happened for me since I came back, whether due to injury or selection or people being away. I always feel that a guy who’s getting rugby week in, week out, playing with the same team is going to improve no matter what. You become better because you learn from your mistakes. I know if I made a mistake in my game last Sunday, I’d train at it this week and rectify it for the next day.”
Some of the line-out takes O’Driscoll pulled off against Clermont were quite magnificent. Time after time, the ball seemed to be floating beyond his reach but somehow his athleticism enabled him to claim the catch.
He smiles at that assertion before responding with typical honesty: “I always say when things go well in the line-out, the jumper gets the credit and when things go badly, the hooker gets all the slack. It’s a 100% timing thing between the jumper, the lifter and the thrower.
“There are times when a defence will defend a line-out very well and there’s nothing you can do about that. Fla’s (Jerry Flannery) throwing has been unbelievable all season, last Sunday in particular was the best I’ve seen from him. It’s the same with Frankie (Sheahan) and Fogs (Denis Fogarty). It’s an area that we spend a lot of time on and I think it’s paying dividends now.”
Line-out adversaries don’t come much tougher than Simon Shaw, the man mountain Wasps second-row. Mick O’Driscoll knows only too well the challenge that lies in store in this and every other area of the game. But that’s what makes these guys burst a gut to get where they want to be and why the fans come in droves to see honest, talented, sportsmen perform at the highest level.
These are occasions to be savoured.
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