Burrell expects the unexpected from wily O’Driscoll

In a quiet media room inside Twickenham yesterday afternoon Andy Farrell attempted to explain why the Lions coaching staff that he was a part of dropped Brian O’Driscoll for the Third Test against Australia last summer.

Ten minutes later Luther Burrell, the man who will play opposite the Irish legend in Saturday’s mouthwatering clash at Twickenham, had his say on the matter.

“To this day nobody really knows why he was dropped, and not for one second did I think it was deserved,” said the England centre as a frown crossed his brow.

That’s the thing with O’Driscoll — everyone has an opinion and as his farewell tour reaches London it seems England are gearing up to play a man as much as a team.

True, that may be due to leading questions from the media as much as from the protagonists, but O’Driscoll dominated conversation yesterday.

Farrell, who worked under Warren Gatland in Australia, was at pains to make it clear he holds O’Driscoll in the highest regard as a player and a man.

Yet what happened in Sydney will play a huge part this weekend as Ireland look to keep their Grand Slam hopes alive.

“It was an experience,” said Farrell in typically understated fashion when asked whether the week of that final Test was the hardest in his career.

“It was a weird type of week. There was massive competition for places among superstars who were number one in their country, never mind their clubs.

“It was never like that for us, in terms of it all being about one call. Some tough calls were made for quite a number of players, but we knew the spirit would hold strong and never waiver.

“And we knew Drico would react how he did, and that was 100% professional, positive, team first.

“He’s certainly still a threat. If you see some of the performances he’s put in this year, he’s been spectacular.

“The game at Franklin’s Gardens [when Leinster trounced Northampton Saints] shows what he can do for his side, which is to turn a game on its head with the special skills and knowledge he has.

“What he brings even more so these days is a unity to the team and a real know-how of how to win big games because he’s been there more times than anyone else.”

O’Driscoll has been there far more often than Burrell — 138 international caps to two, to be precise.

For the majority of his career Burrell has been as much of a fan as the rest of us, and when he faced the centre for the first time he was still as far away from collaring him as ever.

That 40-7 victory for Leinster at Northampton was one of the great Heineken Cup away performances, and was crowned by an audacious through-the-legs pass from O’Driscoll that helped put Luke Fitzgerald in for a try. Burrell was the man who failed to get to O’Driscoll in time, but he is confident of being a little tighter this time around.

“I think I am as ready to face him as I am ever going to be,” smiled Burrell, who has scored in both of his international appearances so far.

“He’s got that X factor. It will be a huge honour to come up against him. It’s something when I was younger I never thought would happen but I am going to cherish it and seize the moment.

“I am going to respect him, I am going to honour the occasion for what it is but for 80 minutes we will be enemies on the rugby field. Hopefully come the final whistle England will have won and I can have a chat with him and pick his brains after.

“It was actually me who was going to tackle him when he did that ball straight between his legs. He didn’t even look where it was going and it went straight to hand. He’s got a lot of flair.”

It says it all about O’Driscoll’s longevity and Ireland’s fine recent run at Twickenham that he has not tasted defeat in south-west London since 2002.

O’Driscoll may now be an old dog but Farrell believes he can still learn new tricks. With Jonny Sexton at 10 and Joe Schmidt calling the shots from the sidelines all Farrell can say is that he is expecting the unexpected.

“Against Ireland you’ve got to be on the ball,” he explained. “Everyone talks about a defence being in your face and that it’s a physical battle, but in the modern game when you’re coming up against wily old characters like Drico and Jonny Sexton and Joe in the coaching staff, you’ve got to be smart. They’re very good at coming up with a plan and that plan can be different week to week, so you’ve got to expect the unexpected.”

Few would bet against O’Driscoll doing just that.