Best still deserves Ireland call, reckons O’Driscoll

Brian O’Driscoll could probably relate to some of the thoughts swirling around Rory Best’s head right now. Like the Ulsterman, O’Driscoll wore the Irish armband on many an auspicious occasion but he also knew dark days to match last Saturday when Joe Schmidt’s out-of-sorts side was put through the ringer by England.

Ireland used to be a team that was renowned for its consistent inconsistencies but the spiral in the side’s fortunes this year has been shocking in the wake of such a memorable 2018 and O’Driscoll certainly knew what it was like to be the leader in a team that could go so quickly from heroes to zero.