O'Driscoll hails Irish resilience in Paris

While the overriding feeling among the Irish camp after Sunday’s 17-17 draw was frustration, injured captain Brian O’Driscoll has praised the resilience of his teammates in stopping France from winning the game.

The fixture holds certain significance for O’Driscoll, who famously scored a hat-trick in Paris in 2000, inspiring an Irish victory.

However Ireland have now gone 12 years without another Six Nations victory in the Stade de France.

Writing in his Diary on the IRFU website, O’Driscoll admitted he was jealous of his teammates when they took a commanding lead in the first half and looked likely to claim a landmark victory.

“There was a tiny bit of envy when Ireland were leading 17-6; that I was going to miss out on one of the great days in Irish rugby but the overwhelming feeling was one of delight.

“When the French came back it looked like they would kick on and win the game, but the boys showed great character and resilience to hang on.

“The last 10 minutes went very slowly. I know the boys are disappointed with the draw on the basis of the lead they had established by half-time.

“Unfortunately we picked up a couple of injuries. Paulie showed a lot of strength to play on with damaged knee ligaments but that doesn’t surprise me at all.

“Conor's looked a sore one and it’s good that it is not as bad as it was initially feared.”

O’Driscoll has his own injury problems to work on. The talismanic centre has been in rehabilitation since receiving an operation on his shoulder in November.

The operation was expected to rule him out for the remainder of the season but the Leinster man has targeted a return in April and he revealed that he has suffered no setbacks on his road to recovery.

“On a personal level in terms of my rehabilitation regime things are progressing well and I would like to report that I have nothing new to report.”

It appears O’Driscoll’s admirable workrate is not confined to the rugby pitch with the Lion finding time to attend a testimonial for an old teammate in London.

“I attended Bob Casey's testimonial last Thursday in London. It was unfortunate that it fell on the week of the re-fixed Paris match but there was still a healthy Leinster representation.

“That just reinforces how highly he is viewed as a person. I was tempted to bid during the auction for Wimbledon tickets, a lesson with Pat Cash and a two night stay in London but unlike the lads in Paris lost my nerve in the end.”