O’Driscoll relishing career stretch

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL is set to play his 100th Test match when Ireland face Australia at Croke Park on Sunday.

Six of those caps were won with the Lions and the remainder with Ireland, whom he captains for the 57th time. It’s a fantastic record and one that will surely be embellished over the next two or three years.

It might be understandable if the novelty had worn off by now but O’Driscoll, arguably Ireland’s greatest ever player, doesn’t see it like that.

“I’m in the very fortunate situation of having a lot of great leaders around me so the work load is very much shared, ” he mused. “It would probably be strange to be playing an international and not be captain. Keith Wood is the last captain of an Irish team that I played under and that seems like an eternity ago. It’s something I enjoy as much now as I did in the early days and something that probably comes a bit more naturally now. But as I say, it’s the workload shared that helps me out.”

O’Driscoll shared the top table at yesterday’s team announcement with Cian Healy, the only new cap on Sunday next. He obviously has so much respect for the talented 22-year-old prop that he didn’t feel it necessary to either hand out any kudos or to give him any advice – except to enjoy a very special occasion.!

“I remember my first cap and I don’t think I was too nervous,” he recalled: “We were playing against Australia as well, over in Brisbane. The nerves kicked in when the fireworks went off as we came out on the pitch because I wasn’t expecting that. But once the whistle went for the start of the game, all those nerves evaporate and you just get into doing what you’re comfortable with, and that’s playing.

“If you don’t have a few nerves, the head’s not sharp. Certainly, playing against teams of the calibre of Australia, you have to be on the ball. If you’re eating your pre-match meal with no problems, there’s an issue there because you need to be forcing your food down, you need to have the few butterflies. It focuses your mind and gets you ready for combat.”

CONSIDERING that the Wallabies have had to play second fiddle in recent times to their southern hemisphere cousins, it was surprising to hear O’Driscoll describe them as “probably the smartest team in world rugby. They think about how to break down defences, they have the personnel to do that and they’re able to adapt on the pitch. They may go in with Plan A but they can change it through the game and that makes them dangerous. They’ll have taken confidence from last week and probably could have beaten England by more, for they left a few other chances out there.”

O’Driscoll’s rival captain on Sunday is, of course, Rocky Elsom, for whom he has massive respect. Indeed, on the night of the final win over Leicester at Murrayfield last April, he unequivocally declared that “Leinster would not have won the Heineken Cup without Rocky Elsom.”

Now the big Aussie number six has returned, planning to do a job on his old mates. It’s another challenge that O’Driscoll is very much up for.

“He’s a great player and was great for us last year,” he acknowledged. “I bumped into Rocky in a restaurant on Monday and we chatted for a while but we’ll put all that away for 80 minutes on Sunday and we’ll take each other on. I’m sure his mind will be focused on winning a Test match, as mine will.

“You always look forward to coming back into the Irish squad. It’s the pinnacle of everyone’s career to play internationally. Personally, I have a great hunger for the game at the moment and hopefully we will pick up where we left off last March. As Declan has been telling us, guys selected for international duty don’t have to pull rabbits out of hats and play a different game.

“They must play the exact same game because that’s what has got them to this point. Do what you’re comfortable with and really enjoy it. That’s one aspect that people tend to steer away from. It passes by very quickly but it’s something to enjoy because getting your first cap is one of the great moments in your life.”

Those words were largely directed at Cian Healy who was only too happy to listen and to respond.

“This is a dream come true for me and something I’ve wanted since I was a child,” said Healy. “I was hoping but not expecting anything, simply because anything could happen. I was just trying my hardest for Leinster and everything has worked out. All that Declan has told me so far is to play as myself and not try to do anything you’re not comfortable with, just play the way that got you here.”

As for Elsom, a Leinster team-mate in the glory days of last April and May, Healy glows: “I used to try and figure out just how he did it. He added so much to a game and seemed to make it effortless. Trying to support him added extra bits to your game.”