Lions manager bowled over by ‘as good as ever’ O’Driscoll

Brian O’Driscoll looks to be in line for a fourth British & Irish Lions tour after catching the eye of manager Andy Irvine in New Zealand.

Irvine has spent the past four weeks running the rule over Scotland, Ireland and Wales on a four-week tour to Australia and New Zealand.

And in that time the Irish skipper left fellow Lions legend Irvine in no doubt he still has what it takes to play for the Lions.

Irvine said: “I have to say that watching Brian against New Zealand last weekend he looked as good as ever. He was in sparkling form.

“I can’t really comment on squad selection, but as a person, Brian has been a fantastic contributor to the Lions and he is possibly one of the greatest players the planet has ever seen.”

O’Driscoll would become the first player in the professional era to appear in four Lions tours and only the third all-time, following fellow Ireland international Willie John McBride and Mike Gibson.

Irvine said: “We’ve got confidence that we have got some great young prospects coming through. We’ve also got one or two very experienced individuals who have been there and done it all, who will be fit and raring to go for next year.

“With a combination of old heads and young talent I would hope we can throw the ball around with the best of them. There’s no doubt we will play to our strengths, and we will obviously be looking to have a strong pack, some fantastic players and great entertainers just like the Wallabies.

“All these blokes can play and so it’s going to be a mouth-watering contest. The result is obviously important but what is more important is that we’re competitive. In South Africa in 2009 we played some fantastic rugby and the South Africans would be first to concede the difference between winning and losing was marginal.

“I’ve said many times that the 2009 team deserved to win the series more than the 1997 side. The try count when we won in 1997 was 9-3 to the Springboks and in 2009 it was 7-5 to the Lions. Obviously we’re desperate to win next year, but equally we want to make sure we put up a really good contest.”

The Lions management have also cleared the final stumbling block for Warren Gatland to lead next year’s tour.

Gatland, in Australia with Wales, has been given permission to remain with the Six Nations champions for their autumn Tests against New Zealand and Australia later this year. And that has paved the way for the double Grand Slam coach to be formally announced next month for the 2013 tour.

Irvine said: “Wales have asked if Warren can take a short leave of absence during their autumn series and that’s not a problem for us. It would not detract from his ability to coach the Lions. There is learning to be done from coaching against Australia.”