Dempsey hoping for O'Driscoll fairytale

Girvan Dempsey has revealed Ireland are determined to mark Brian O’Driscoll’s 50th Test as captain by rewriting the history books.

O’Driscoll reaches the milestone in Saturday’s clash with New Zealand at Croke Park as the nation’s most successful rugby skipper.

Since succeeding Keith Wood he has won 67% of his 49 matches in charge, leading Ireland through a glory-laden spell that included a hat-trick of Triple Crowns.

The prized scalps of Australia, South Africa, France and England sit in the 29-year-old’s collection, yet one major team remains elusive.

Ireland have never beaten New Zealand in 21 attempts and Dempsey has demanded his team-mates give O’Driscoll the perfectly-scripted story with which to chalk up his half-century.

“Beating the All Blacks for the first time on the same day as Brian reaches his 50 Tests as captain would be fairytale stuff,” he said.

“All the players are aware of the achievement and will do everything they possibly can to ensure it’s a special day for him.”

Dempsey, whose 81-cap total is five less than O’Driscoll’s, has been alongside the centre for Ireland and Leinster virtually every step of the way.

“Brian is such a quality player, you just have to look at the sterling performances he’s put in for Ireland and Leinster to see how good he is,” said Saturday’s full-back against the All Blacks.

“What stands out about him is that he always brings his best game to the big occasion.

“As a captain he’s vocal but primarily he’s a captain who leads by example.

“He controls things exceptionally well and is very level-headed. That helps his decision-making on what we should do and how the backline should attack.

“He’s very quick to see opportunities to attack places and his communication means that is translated across the backline very quickly.”

Dempsey continued: “The match that really stands out for me was Leinster against Agen in France in 2006. They scored a couple of tries and we had our backs to the wall for a bit.

“Brian stepped up and produced a bit of magic and changed the game for us. We went on to win 25-13.”

O’Driscoll eclipsed Wood’s Ireland captaincy record of 36 Tests in last year’s RBS 6 Nations victory over Italy. Two years earlier he became the nation’s first Lions skipper since Ciaran Fitzgerald in 1983, only for a dislocated shoulder to brutally cut short his tour just moments into the first Test against New Zealand.

He is among the favourites to lead the Lions in South Africa next summer and Dempsey believes he is the standout candidate.

“Brian was unlucky that he wasn’t able to prove himself in New Zealand but from what I’ve heard from other players everyone was very happy with the job he did,” he said.

“I hope he gets the opportunity – he should certainly be among the leading contenders for the job.”