O’Driscoll determined to grab opportunity

IT doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that Ireland’s second row buddies Mick O’Driscoll and Donncha O’Callaghan face a huge examination of character in tomorrow’s Guinness Test clash with South Africa at the Aviva Stadium.

The duo face up to the most feared and respected second row combinations in world rugby, Springboks skipper Victor Matfield and his sidekick, Bakkies Botha, and O’Driscoll sees it as a challenge that will have to be met full on.

Of the two Irishmen, O’Driscoll’s international CV is the least impressive – 19 caps over a decade and only seven starts – but that has never diminished his ambition even though, for Munster and Ireland, he has had to live in the shadow of Paul O’Connell.