Timeless O’Driscoll becomes Ireland’s Benjamin Button

Players often talk about treating their next game as if it was their last but when you’re Brian O’Driscoll and the clock is ticking on a glittering career, the cliché becomes a harsh reality.

And so it was yesterday as O’Driscoll, 35, embarked on his final Six Nations campaign before riding off into the sunset of retirement at the end of this season. He took to the field for a record 129th time in an Ireland jersey and just as he has done for the previous 128 he played as if life his depended on it.

For a change, the match statistics bore that out. O’Driscoll, the oldest player on the field, led the tackle count with 12% of his team’s total tally of 116. In fact, across the three Six Nations games played over the opening weekend of the 2014 championship, only Italy lock Quintin Guildenhuys matched him.