O'Driscoll 'should’ve been French’
During the course of the week, there was much hushed talk of a video tribute before the game on the big screens, a solo O’Driscoll entry on to the field ahead of the two teams and another grand tribute to him at the after-match dinner.
All that is missing is a blanket of gladioli drifting down from the stands and, of course, an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.
The French have a love-hate relationship with O’Driscoll.
They have done ever since he announced himself on the world stage that spring afternoon 14 years ago at the Stade de France when his precocious hat-trick gave Ireland what remains their only win in Paris in 42 years.
Since then, the French have cheered O’Driscoll when he has been playing anyone else (especially the English) and marvelled at his skill, pace, workrate and durability.
And they have feared his presence in the line-up against them.
“He should have been French,” Philippe Saint-Andre told the press this week. “Because he has flair.”
The France coach was happy to expand on his theme on a player who has scored eight of his 47 international tries against the French and was coyly wooed by Biarritz after the Lions tour of 2005.
“I say this because he has the skills of someone like Didier Cordoniou or Jo Maso, two of our greatest centres, and the speed of [wing] Patrice Lagisquet
“I think we say it because when we saw him come the first time in France and he scored three times we say, ‘Bloody hell, why isn’t he born in France?’
“So I think it is not that we are jealous but maybe we are a little bit envious.”
Given France’s inconsistency and their disturbing propensity for self-immolation when the going gets tough, it is hardly a surprise that Saint-André looks longingly to a player of O’Driscoll’s calibre.
“BOD is the spirit of the game,” he says. “He has a positive attitude, so much flair, so much talent and so often he creates space for the guys around him.
“He was quick, he scored some unbelievable tries. But it is more about his skills and the way in the modern game he creates space for people around him.
“Everyone is going to remember this player, his ability to create space.
“Sometimes you say there is no space and he finds a way to offload or to put a guy in with the chance of a try. It is his positive attitude on the field and in life. We love this player and his attitude.”
That day in Paris 14 years ago may have launched an Irish superstar but it also broke a few careers, notably Cedric Desbrosse. Remember him? He was the Toulouse centre selected to play opposite BOD.
“That day could have been mine,” he recalled in sports daily L’Equipe. “But it was his. That cost me a lot.
“He saw a little gap between Stephane Glas and me, and we weren’t used to defending together. I understood that day that he breathed rugby.”
Desbrosse, who was 28 then, was winning his second cap and, as it turned out, his last.
Yannick Jauzion played six times against O’Driscoll during the early years of the century, rivalling him for the tag of world’s best centre.
“He possesses remarkable mental strength,” he said. “In those crucial moments in a match, during a season, over the course of a career, he is always there.”
Jauzion rates O’Driscoll just behind Tana Umaga, which is unlikely to go down well with Irish supporters on several levels.
The current crop of French players may be excused for getting a bit fed up with all the questions about O’Driscoll when they want to focus on their own games. But they have all spoken warmly about one of the true legends of the sport.
Max Medard thinks a few moments before coming up with a single word that describes O’Driscoll.
“Combatant,” he says finally. Fighter.
The winger vividly remembers when he first saw O’Driscoll play. It was the U20 World Cup in Toulouse in 1998.
“I was only 11 but he was impressive, very sharp,” says Medard. “He stood out from the rest — like he does almost every week for Ireland. I am very proud to be facing him. It is an honour.”
Whether it is rugby diplomacy or not, and a useful smokescreen for their real purpose of winning today’s match, all the French talk about the honour of playing in this final O’Driscoll outing.
Yoann Huget said: “He announced himself against the French and now he will finish here.”
Huget admits, though, that there is a rider to all this love: “I don’t think about that game in 2000 often,” he says. “And I definitely don’t want to see that again in his final match.”
Fly-half Remi Tales runs a similar line.
“He is capable of strokes of genius. I hope we can spoil the party.”
O’Driscoll and the Irish need to be careful the emotion of the day doesn’t cause the tears to blind them in the opening exchanges. Failure may result in tears of a different strain come tonight.
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