O’Driscoll’s love affair with rugby will continue

Shane Horgan believes Brian O’Driscoll may yet continue his love affair with rugby after he hangs up his boots, despite the Ireland centre’s continued assertions he is unlikely to seek a coaching role.

Horgan knows exactly the sort of challenges facing his friend and former teammate given he himself retired from the professional game two years ago and the Meath man has no doubt but that O’Driscoll will find his groove again come life beyond the dressing-room door.

“I really don’t think it’s going to be an issue at all,” Horgan told RTÉ Radio’s Today with Sean O’Rourke show. “Of all the people I have played with he is the one player I know is capable of transitioning to do whatever he wants to do. That’s the real issue for Brian.

“There’s many of us who would love to see him in rugby and with the vast bank of knowledge he has it would almost be a shame if that wasn’t utilised. He hasn’t said he fancies going down that route yet but after you have been away from it for a while rugby does have a habit of dragging you back in.”

Horgan was speaking on the show along with O’Driscoll’s father Frank, former England captain and centre Will Carling and former Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan who made a 23-year-old O’Driscoll captain soon into his seven-year stint.

“The thing I’m probably most disappointed about is that Brian was never given the IRB Player of the Year Award and that is almost an indictment of the International Rugby Board,” said O’Sullivan. “He was nominated three times back in ’01 and ’02 but in ’09 he had led Ireland to the Grand Slam.

“He was probably the best player in the world that year and it went to Richie McCaw and, no disrespect to Richie McCaw who is another great player, but a lot of people felt that. That’s probably the only disappointment because he has done everything else. That sticks in my craw.”

The segment touched on other lows in the player’s career, most notably the spear tackle which ended his Lions tour as captain to New Zealand in 2005 and Warren Gatland’s decision to omit him from the entire squad for the deciding Lions Test against Australia last summer.

Naturally, the high points also got an airing. The Grand Slam was, according to his father, the most fulfilling of them all, but it fell to O’Sullivan to deliver the most eloquent tribute to the player who is two games away from the end of his international career.

“When Keith Wood was injured and it was my first Six Nations I made him captain because I saw that leadership material in him. At the time it wasn’t the most popular decision because I was told he was too young, inexperienced and immature but I just saw that leadership quality in him.

“When you think of it, he has been at the epicentre of everything good that has happened in Irish rugby for the last 12 years when you think of Grand Slams, Triple Crowns and Heineken Cups. He has defined the golden era of Irish rugby.”