O’Driscoll comes full circle with Brisbane return

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL is back where it all began this week.

But 102 caps later he insists there is plenty for him to achieve in the game of rugby.

Ireland’s most decorated player made his international debut here in Brisbane 11 long years ago. Back in Queensland for the first time as an Ireland player since, he said Saturday’s Test provides an opportunity to notch up a very significant achievement – his first Test win for Ireland south of the equator against the one of the game’s big three.

“It’s not a little list (of things I want to achieve). It’s still a long enough list,” laughed the Ireland captain.

“There are still plenty of things there to be achieved. I’m very much a believer in living in the now and just going week by week, particularly when it comes to the last week of the season. I haven’t even had a thought to next year.

“So it will be one last big effort on Saturday and hopefully, besides giving experience to a lot of young guys on tour, we might be able to sneak a victory.”

O’Driscoll burst onto the Test scene here on June 12, 1999. Aged 20, he was part of an Ireland team that were wholly overpowered by the hosts.

“Yeah, I do remember it. It was very mixed emotions, obviously because you get your first cap but you’re on the back end of a bad defeat,” he said of the 46-10 surrender for a side laced with veterans and captained by Dion O’Cuinnegean. O’Driscoll in contrast hadn’t even turned out for Leinster but was plucked from obscurity by Warren Gatland and Donal Lenihan.

“It was a very exciting time,” he added. “It seems like an eternity ago. It was very special and for those getting their first test, it’s a great moment in your career and one you’ll always remember. It will pass you by quickly so you should try and enjoy it as much as you can and savour the moment.

“The advice I’ve always given to new caps is that you’ve been selected because you’re one of the in-form players in the country. It’s come to you and it’s an opportunity to stake a claim for a regular piece. That’s the way I looked at it.”

He is however the only member of the team to savour a victory on Australian soil. O’Driscoll enjoyed one of his finest days here in Lions red in 2001 when they came out on top in the first Test at the Gabba.

“Yeah, you get games throughout your career that you look back on with fond memories but I don’t think the fact that it was in Brisbane is really going to count for a huge amount,” said O’Driscoll, who scored a wonder try in the clash.

“We’re not even playing in the same stadium. It’s a different time. The game of rugby has changed an awful lot since then. I’m sure I’ve changed as a person and as a player too, so you can’t really make a comparison.”