BOD not planning beyond Lions’ summer tour

Brian O’Driscoll has signalled that he will not seek to ease his way into retirement by calling time on his Ireland career and playing on with Leinster.

The veteran outside-centre has consistently claimed to be in the dark as to his own intentions beyond the summer’s Lions tour but he expanded ever so slightly on his immediate future yesterday.

“I looked at the Leinster game (against Scarlets) the other day when we were over in Edinburgh... I’d find it hard still playing rugby, playing Rabo, and knowing that the (Ireland) lads were sitting in a hotel to play a game the next day. I’d find that tough going. I don’t know, I don’t know (about the future).

“I’m not lying to you. I haven’t got this great secret hiding in my head. I don’t know. I’m just trying ... I think it’s starting to come. The more games (played), the more I think the trigger in my head will go yes, no, yes, no.”

O’Driscoll also revealed that he has already been approached by the IRFU about the possibility of signing a new contract for next season but added that he had yet to engage with the union.

Multiple factors will shape his decision but chief among them will be his physical well-being and he was in good shape yesterday after Sunday’s game which, on an attritional level, was far easier than the two against Wales and England.

He is lucky too in that there is no rush for an answer. Though the union and Leinster will require a decision long before he — hopefully — embarks on another Lions tour, neither body is tapping its feet waiting for a response.

Leinster already know that they will have to replace O’Driscoll, when the time comes, with a homegrown player due to the intricacies of regulations regarding non-Irish qualified (NIQs) players and that allows extra elbow room.

“I’m not under massive pressure to make a decision at the moment, which suits me fine,” he admitted. “I’m enjoying my rugby, I am still enjoying it. I enjoyed camp last week.

“It will be harder this week after games like last weekend. The longer I am able to make the decision, it will come more naturally.”

The Lions tour to Australia has long been primed by others as the natural exit for a man with such an illustrious career and its appeal as an epilogue could conceivably be all the greater, given the problems facing both Leinster and Ireland of late. Leinster appear to be heading towards a period of reconstruction while Ireland are well down that road and both teams could well be operating under new coaching structures in the near to mid-future.

O’Driscoll, however, rejected the notion that the fortunes of club and country would determine his decision.

“I don’t think so, really. You have to let the raw emotion of games pass... it’s not really going to have a huge bearing.

“I still am passionate about the game, a lot of it is going to be down to how I’m feeling physically and whether I feel I’m up to it. Because I still love the game.

“I don’t think that’s going to change with a run of defeats. I’ve had a run of defeats in the past. I had a couple of barren years back in the early 2000s. It wasn’t beautiful but it didn’t lessen my desire for the game any.” >