Plenty more good rugby left in tank, says Drico

IRELAND skipper Brian O’Driscoll insists he has ‘plenty more good rugby to give’ ahead of his 32nd birthday this week.

“I’m feeling good,” he said ahead of Leinster’s Heineken Cup clash away to Racing Metro 92 tomorrow night.

“I’m fit and more importantly I’m really enjoying what I’m doing, more so (maybe) than I did for many years.

“As long as I still have that hunger I don’t feel I’m ready to give up so we will see over the next while.

“I don’t want to put any crazy pressure on myself to declare as to how long I want to go on, but I feel at the moment that I have plenty more good rugby to give and particularly with this competition I’m thriving on it and enjoying.”

O’Driscoll heaped praise on his Leinster coach Joe Schmidt as the province stand on the cusp of a home quarter-final.

“The great thing about Joe is that he doesn’t pick on reputation, that’s the right way to go about it. It’s a bit different from previous seasons, there were times maybe when it might have been easier to get into teams but now the tougher it gets sometimes the more enjoyable it gets. That’s the way you need to have it. Reputation doesn’t count for anything if you’re not producing. 10 years down the track, I am definitely enjoying training but I’m conscious that I need to produce it every time I’m training pitch or on the pitch.”

O’Driscoll admits to watching over his shoulder: “I’ve seen the performances that Eoin (O’Malley) and Fergus (McFadden) have been putting in this season and it’s great. The reason I’m enjoying it so much is because of the competition and the brand (of rugby) we’re playing. It’s fun coming in every day; we have a really good balance of younger and older guys and there is a great work ethic. That balance is good, (blend of) leaders, guys with plenty of experience and then young guys not afraid to speak and let their voice be heard. It’s where we want to be but we’re a team constantly evolving, the second you think you’re great is the second that you head on a downward spiral.

“The next opportunity we get to prove we’re a decent team is Friday (tomorrow).”

Although Munster’s love affair with this season’s tournament came to an end last week, O’Driscoll is still proud of what Irish teams have achieved in Europe and of the success of the national team as well.

“We punch above our weight; essentially it’s a numbers thing with five million people in the country, I don’t know how many people play rugby but we have something like 120 odd professional players compared to considerably bigger numbers in other countries. We have a lot of competition from other sports but we’re not playing little violins, we’re enjoying the hardship that comes with being underdogs at times and battling above our weight. If we continue with the attitude we have at the moment then we won’t go far wrong. It’s a case of generating a mentality (that) so that we’re all singing off the same hymn sheet.”