Driven O’Driscoll desperate to end All Black hoodoo
The Leinster centre has faced New Zealand nine times for his country while he skippered the British and Irish Lions on one occasion in an ill-fated opening test in Christchurch back in 2005.
This is O’Driscoll’s seventh time visiting New Zealand since he first played against them in that rip-roaring 40-29 defeat at Lansdowne Road in 2001. Only two survivors remain from that epic test in Dublin: O’Driscoll and Richie McCaw, the respective captains for Saturday’s clash.
The Irish test veteran has never been on the winning side against his arch-rivals and accepts they are very tough to beat especially on their home turf.
“You just have to give yourself a fighting chance in the last 10-15 minutes to be within a score,” said O’Driscoll.
“I think when you get to the last 10 minutes, and there’s a chance of even a breakaway try to take the lead, that’s where you have to be at.
“You just have to stay in the game for that first half, it’s vital. Just stay tough. And keep playing against them.”
Ireland’s heroic victory over the Wallabies at Eden Park in last year’s World Cup has been well documented at this stage. It was a night where the Irish pack squeezed the life out of their opponents on a rainy night in Auckland. O’Driscoll, however, refutes the argument that a similar approach will work against Saturday’s foes.
“I think if you try and defend against the All Blacks, they’ll kill you,” he said. “I think you have to play and really be very attacking-minded.”
The Irish captain forms an exciting partnership with Keith Earls — the man who kept his number 13 jersey warm during the Six Nations championship. It is the first time the duo will start a test together in an untried but potentially lethal combination.
“It’s exciting,” said O’Driscoll.
“I am looking forward to kind of mixing and matching with him. We will probably mix it a little bit defensively but I would imagine I will probably be defending mostly at 12.
“I did it before in 2002 down here with John Kelly, I played a lot at 12 that day, so it’s nothing major, people get hung up on numbers but there are specific plays where you switch around any way.
“I have done it with Gordon for years at 12, and defending as well depending on what the play is so you mix and match throughout.”
The 117-cap three-quarter will be charged with shutting down the freakish physical specimen that is Sonny Bill Williams, an ex-rugby league legend with the build of a number eight coupled with the most majestic ball skills on the planet.
“He can get the ball out of the backdoors, or front doors, or side doors,” O’Driscoll quipped on the gigantic Kiwi centre.
“I think you just look at the size of his hands. It’s like he’s playing with a size three ball. He’s playing well this year from what I’ve seen of the Chiefs.”
Ireland will step into the Auckland arena without several key players and while the All Blacks are missing a few too, they are buoyed by the addition of some fresh exciting blood in their ranks.
“Obviously, you want to come as fully loaded as you possibly can,” said O’Driscoll on the absence of key men such as Paul O’Connell and Stephen Ferris.
“We are missing a couple of big guys, but I am a glass half-full kind of guy and it is a good opportunity for other guys to come in who have been playing well.”
“There is always going to be an issue of who do you leave out but I think we’re lucky that we have goes strength to cover for the likes of Fez and Paul.”
There is no doubt this weekend’s assignment is a mammoth challenge for O’Driscoll and his teammates perhaps on the most seismic tasks of their careers.
His chance for World Cup glory went up in smoke last year, but O’Driscoll has won pretty much everything on offer during his stellar career
With the clock ticking on the great man’s career, the next few weeks could be his last chance to beat the men in black. “I am not going to play in another World Cup… so yeah, beating New Zealand would be one of the big ones.”
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