O’Driscoll: change at the top is good for us

IT WAS a relaxed and smiling Brian O’Driscoll who turned up at the Aviva Stadium for press duties yesterday and no wonder. Most men must make do with just the one honeymoon period; the Leinster and Irish centre is currently in the midst of two.

Recently married to Amy Huberman, O’Driscoll is also enjoying life under the guidance of the province’s new coach, Joe Schmidt, who takes the reins in Dublin 4 this season after the departure of Michael Cheika to France.

Schmidt has, of course, travelled the opposite path, vacating his role as Vern Cotter’s right-hand man at Clermont Auvergne after an earlier stint at the Auckland Blues for his first taste of life as a head coach.