O’Driscoll ready to silence the doubters

THE 2008 RBS Six Nations Championship may be only two games old, but Brian O’Driscoll’s form has never come under so much scrutiny since the day he first broke onto the senior side on tour in Australia in 1999.

The country’s all-time top try scorer (31 in 81 Tests) hasn’t crossed the whitewash since returning from the 2007 Rugby World Cup for either province or country, while his leadership qualities have also been questioned.

Indeed, praise for Ireland’s second half revival against France has been attributed to Ronan O’Gara’s inspirational pre-match team talks.