Opportunity knocks for rookie O’Brien
After three turns off the replacements bench in the last 12 months, the 23-year-old from Carlow has been finally given his first international start by head coach Declan Kidney in the weekend’s Test against Samoa.
Rave reviews on the openside for Leinster have been pouring in all season but with Kidney spoiled for choice across the back row, O’Brien was brought back down to earth with an almighty clatter last week when he failed to even make the matchday squad to face world champions South Africa.
“The competition there is unbelievable,” O’Brien said on Tuesday following his selection. “There’s lots of experienced lads there and I’m the youngest fella so I suppose that doesn’t stand to me at times. But at the other end of it I’m eager and I want to get in there and prove a point.”
The extent of O’Brien’s experience for Ireland totals 79 minutes – 37 against Fiji for his debut in November, another 35 against the Springboks the following week and then a seven-minute Six Nations cameo last February versus Italy, before suffering a season-ending leg fracture two weeks later.
All that might be frustrating for most young go-getters but O’Brien says otherwise.
“It’s not as if I’m at the end of my career,” he said. “I’m only young and I’m getting experience the whole time. Even in training, you’re learning things from those lads.
“You have to stay patient. If you get down about it or start to think you’re not going to get your opportunity, it will affect your game.”
Now he takes over from veteran flanker David Wallace with Saturday’s back-row replacement Denis Leamy on the blindside of No. 8 Jamie Heaslip, who retains his spot.
“This is a good opportunity for me against a tough side. Hopefully I can perform and then it’s all up in the air for the following week but I just want to get my own roles right and have a good game and get back to playing the way I have for the last few weeks.
“Wally’s been there a long time now and is very experienced. He’s a great player and sound in every aspect of the game. So it’s just a case of getting in there every week and trying to prove your point.”
Even if his game-time with Ireland has been limited, there is at least a recognition that O’Brien’s progress to the highest level has been swift.
“I’m happy with the way my game has gone. I worked hard in pre-season to get back after my leg (injury) and I’m gradually building the small little aspects of my game. So I suppose I am happy with the way things are going but I have to back that up every week.”
Particularly this week, seven days on from watching his peers succumb to the Springboks in a lacklustre opening hour.
“I was sitting in the stands and I thought that in the last 20 minutes, we performed very well. Up to that time, everything was just a little bit sloppy, a few dropped balls, a few forced passes. We weren’t being a bit smart. I just thought we upped our game in the last 20 minutes. We got into a rhythm, got into a pattern and played well then. It’s just the small things and if we get them right this week, it will all come together for us. It was only the little things, at the end of the day.”
When added up, those little things delivered a sixth defeat in a row for Ireland but although that streak will be expected to stop against the Samoans, O’Brien guarded against putting too much emphasis on gaining that so far elusive victory.
“We can’t go out there saying, ‘oh, we have to win this game’. We have to go out there and perform to what we’ve been doing all this week. That’s the main thing, getting our own roles right and getting into our patterns, then really work hard and hopefully the win will come after that. But first things first, we have to sort ourselves out.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
