The Brian O'Driscoll thread

Amazotheamazing

Can people just dump all the rubbish they keep posting about O'Driscoll in this thread and stop restarting the same bloody debate on every single thread in this forum?

Honestly, how does every single thread end up with a variation of whether a) he's still up to it, b) whether he should captain Ireland and/or the Lions, c) whether he'll even make the Lions etc etc.

Can people please just let it lie on every other thread?

Twin-go

IMHO

1. Brian O'Driscoll should not be the Irish Captain
2. Brian O'Driscoll should be in the Irish team when fully fit
3. Brian O'Driscoll should be in the Lions Squad but I don't think he'll make the test side.

Just my 2 cents.

RugbyFanatic

O'Driscoll is not the same player but still one of our best players.

O'Driscoll will definitely travel on the lions and will more than likely be in the first 15.

O'Driscoll for whatever reason, seems to have a lot of haters and at times gets undeserved and very occasionally malicious criticisms.

O'Driscoll will be considered one of world rugby's finest players for decades to come.

O'Driscoll in his prime was far, far better than Tipoki and Mafi ever were and ever will be.

O'Driscoll is being impeeded by his teammates (RWC to use just one example) and poor backline coaching.

John_C

O'Driscoll kicked the ball 5 times last weekend. 4 of them were very good kicks and one of them wasn't bad but was very short any easy to deal with.

Kicks from O'Driscoll have led to 2 of Leinster's tries in this years 'ken

RuggieBear

*shakes head sadly*

John_C

John_C wrote: »

O'Driscoll kicked the ball 5 times last weekend. 4 of them were very good kicks and one of them wasn't bad but was very short any easy to deal with.



Kicks from O'Driscoll have led to 2 of Leinster's tries in this years 'ken

As Matt Williams once said
"Brian O'Driscoll was touched by God to run with the ball not kick it"



As Welsh fan said to me before
"Even if O'Driscoll isnt the same player as he was,I would like to thank him on behalf of every rugby fan for when he made playing rugby look like an act of God"

Peter B

I would love to see O'Driscoll wear the "12" shirt and play 12 for Ireland. The advertising campaign is over!

Except a 12 has to be able to kick and he cant.

After what he has done for ireland over the years he can keep whatever number he likes imo.Why does it matter?
Confuses opposition if anything.

Peter B

This myth on this board that you have to be able to kick at 12 is rubbish. If you have a decent outhalf you do not need a kicker at 12. Was Rob Henderson or Gordon Darcy able to kick? They were Irelands best 12s I can remember.

Also the Irish team tends not to employ the "Pass it out to No. 12 to kick it". We haven't had to!

Also O'Driscoll has being kicking a lot recently. Some quite well. I would certainly trust him in a position where he will rarely need to kick.

Lastly, I think we should be living in the present and if O'Driscoll is going to play as a 12 he should wear the 12 shirt. Just because he has always worn the 13 doesn't mean he can't change!

Peter B

Peter B wrote: »

This myth on this board that you have to be able to kick at 12 is rubbish. If you have a decent outhalf you do not need a kicker at 12. Was Rob Henderson or Gordon Darcy able to kick? They were Irelands best 12s I can remember.

Also the Irish team tends not to employ the "Pass it out to No. 12 to kick it". We haven't had to!

Also O'Driscoll has being kicking a lot recently. Some quite well. I would certainly trust him in a position where he will rarely need to kick.

Lastly, I think we should be living in the present and if O'Driscoll is going to play as a 12 he should wear the 12 shirt. Just because he has always worn the 13 doesn't mean he can't change!

Thats true but look what happens if you dont play a 12 that can kick.The All Blacks put so much pressure on Rog they forced him to run the ball instead of playing his kicking game.They put him out of his comfort zone.

Other teams will have noticed this and will just stick their back 3 very deep and do the same thing.
If they do cop on to this we are ****ed for the 6 nations.
So imo after the All Blacks have exposed this fatal flaw in our setup we do need a kicking 12 eg Wallace.

Paddy Wallace also deserves the 12 jersey anyway

anonymous_joe

Our best player ever...?

twinytwo

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Our best player ever...?

well either him or mike gibson... two of the best to ever play the game
if only they had played at the same time

anonymous_joe

twinytwo wrote: »

well either him or mike gibson... two of the best to ever play the game
if only they had played at the same time

Indeed.

Bias of youth but I never view the pre-professionals in the same light. (Mainly because I wasn't born or too young to appreciate them.)

But he's the best 13 the world's ever produced I reckon. Hard to overstate the impact he had on Irish rugby's popularity. The suffering and pain of wooden spoons that I remember from my childhood gave way to the hat-trick against France, those Lions games... Magnificent player.

twinytwo

Aliya Bitter Tequila wrote: »

Thats true but look what happens if you dont play a 12 that can kick.The All Blacks put so much pressure on Rog they forced him to run the ball instead of playing his kicking game.They put him out of his comfort zone.

Other teams will have noticed this and will just stick their back 3 very deep and do the same thing.
If they do cop on to this we are ****ed for the 6 nations.
So imo after the All Blacks have exposed this fatal flaw in our setup we do need a kicking 12 eg Wallace.

Paddy Wallace also deserves the 12 jersey anyway

You seem to forget this fact.. it was the all blacks that did this not wales or england. They tore us a new asshole as they did eveyone else except munster. The other 6N's team will have enough of their own problems without trying to put rog under pressure and even if they do try this it only going to leave space for darce and Bod as they arnt good/fast enough to shut the back line down while trying to put rog under pressure.. i mean if 2 or 3 players went for him and he passed instead of kicked??

Tim Robbins

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Can people just dump all the rubbish they keep posting about O'Driscoll in this thread and stop restarting the same bloody debate on every single thread in this forum?

BOD is the biggest victim of the anti - Leinster sentiment in the country, possibly because he's an out and out world class player whose a joy to watch and it's hard to slag him on anything that's actually about Rugby as his game near perfect whereas even most world class players have some weakness or other e.g. POC wouldn't be the best at passing the ball.

Every war has its innocent victims. Sadly.

You're going to get these people following Rugby, unless you return back to the days when the sport wasn't big in the country.

Those who are genuinely into the beauty of Rugby appreciate him, no matter where they're from or what team they support.

Amazotheamazing

Tim Robbins wrote: »

BOD is the biggest victim of the anti - Leinster sentiment in the country, possibly because he's an out and out world class player whose a joy to watch and it's hard to slag him on anything that's actually about Rugby as his game near perfect whereas even most world class players have some weakness or other e.g. POC wouldn't be the best at passing the ball.

Every war has its innocent victims. Sadly.

You're going to get these people following Rugby, unless you return back to the days when the sport wasn't big in the country.

Those who are genuinely into the beauty of Rugby appreciate him, no matter where they're from or what team they support.

Agree completely, O'Driscoll is and has always been a class act.

RugbyFanatic

This might sound odd but if BOD was from say Ulster, Connacht or Munster he would probably a lot more respected across the board. The fact that hes a Leinster player will mean he comes under extra scrutiny.

twinytwo

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Agree completely, O'Driscoll is and has always been a class act.

+1

premierstone

RugbyFanatic wrote: »

This might sound odd but if BOD was from say Ulster, Connacht or Munster he would probably a lot more respected across the board. The fact that hes a Leinster player will mean he comes under extra scrutiny.

It doesnt sound odd but it does sound like complete and utter bullsh*t tbh, what province a player is from has nothing to do with it what so ever, Ive seen ROG, POC, DOC etc subjected to torrents of abuse here and in other places, they dont play for Leinster!

To say a Leinster player will come under more scrutiny, what exactly are you basing this on because I seem to remember lately Leinster fans complaining that they dont get enough media attention

Amazotheamazing

RugbyFanatic wrote: »

This might sound odd but if BOD was from say Ulster, Connacht or Munster he would probably a lot more respected across the board. The fact that hes a Leinster player will mean he comes under extra scrutiny.

Apart from a few children on internet sites, I've never met someone who doesn't respect O'driscoll as a player. Infact, even on internet sites, it's a common complaint to say he's not respected when in fact, 99% of the people are saying what a great player he is.

Some people want to get offended on his behalf and they do him no favours, and anyone who doesn't rate him shouldn't be listened to, since they are clearly idiots.

anonymous_joe

premierstone wrote: »

It doesnt sound odd but it does sound like complete and utter bullsh*t tbh, what province a player is from has nothing to do with it what so ever, Ive seen ROG, POC, DOC etc subjected to torrents of abuse here and in other places, they dont play for Leinster!

To say a Leinster player will come under more scrutiny, what exactly are you basing this on because I seem to remember lately Leinster fans complaining that they dont get enough media attention

He's from Leinster which has some clichéd baggage attached to it, as well as being an ex-Rock boy. So a lot of people don't like him for that.

premierstone

anonymous_joe wrote: »

He's from Leinster which has some clichéd baggage attached to it, as well as being an ex-Rock boy. So a lot of people don't like him for that.

Does being from Munster not have cliched baggage attached aswell though, Im not trying to turn this into one of these redic Mun v Lein threads but i think using that as an excuse is pure fiction tbh.

For the record I have nothing but admiration for BOD definitely one of the top 3 if not thee greatest player Ireland has ever produced, for 4-5 years he was the the best offencive centre in the world and in the last few years when the pace lessened (still pretty fast mind you) he has become arguably the best defensive centre in the world (definitely the hardest working and most commited IMO), but seen as this is a general thread on him I will point out the negatives aswell he is not, never has been and never will be a good captain, why people assume that the best player will make the best captain always puzzles me, the only pre-requisite for a potential captain should be that they are guarenteed a starting place when fit and work from there.

anonymous_joe

premierstone wrote: »

Does being from Munster not have cliched baggage attached aswell though, Im not trying to turn this into one of these redic Mun v Lein threads but i think using that as an excuse is pure fiction tbh.

For the record I have nothing but admiration for BOD definitely one of the top 3 if not thee greatest player Ireland has ever produced, for 4-5 years he was the the best offencive centre in the world and in the last few years when the pace lessened (still pretty fast mind you) he has become arguably the best defensive centre in the world (definitely the hardest working and most commited IMO), but seen as this is a general thread on him I will point out the negatives aswell he is not, never has been and never will be a good captain, why people assume that the best player will make the best captain always puzzles me, the only pre-requisite for a potential captain should be that they are guarenteed a starting place when fit and work from there.

I think in relation to Munster, I doubt many people feel strongly about Munster. I couldn't give a fúck. ^^ (In a good way. For the record. :P)

Whereas the whole Ross O'Carroll-Kelly thing is indicative of fairly widespread feelings about those who've gone to private schools in South Dublin. Just the way it is.

RugbyFanatic

anonymous_joe wrote: »

I think in relation to Munster, I doubt many people feel strongly about Munster. I couldn't give a fúck. ^^ (In a good way. For the record. :P)

Whereas the whole Ross O'Carroll-Kelly thing is indicative of fairly widespread feelings about those who've gone to private schools in South Dublin. Just the way it is.

Bingo.

Chucky the tree

O'Driscoll is one of the worst ever irish captains?

outwest

RugbyFanatic wrote: »

This might sound odd but if BOD was from say Ulster, Connacht or Munster he would probably a lot more respected across the board. The fact that hes a Leinster player will mean he comes under extra scrutiny.

if bod was from connacht and maybe even ulster he would'nt have as many caps as he does

RugbyFanatic

outwest wrote: »

if bod was from connacht and maybe even ulster he would'nt have as many caps as he does

Can you name me one Connacht or Ulster player that has criminally been left out of an Irish 15?

outwest

RugbyFanatic wrote: »

Can you name me one Connacht or Ulster player that has criminally been left out of an Irish 15?

i believe pollock should start at seven with wallace at 8,but i bet your going to say that heaslip deserves his place at 8

RugbyFanatic

outwest wrote: »

i believe pollock should start at seven with wallace at 8,but i bet your going to say that heaslip deserves his place at 8

Might want to check over my recent favoured squad posts

*Hint* I didn't include Heaslip in the 15

You were wrong about the above just like your initial point is wrong.

Pollock not starting the first 15 is not a criminal decision at all considering we have Jennings,Leamy,Wallace,Heaslip of which 2 can play 7 and 2 can play 8.

soundsham

maybe if he's not captain of ire this year it may drive him on to have a great year for ireland i think it would, cause he's not been too hot of late

as regards lions not too many world class centres in sco,eng,so will travel to lions defo

hope he doen't get injured again tho..........boy he went on about it

ALH-06

outwest wrote: »

if bod was from connacht and maybe even ulster he would'nt have as many caps as he does

That's a ridiculous comment. BOD played for Ireland before playing regularly for Leinster by the way. From a young age, he was rightly identified as one of the most remarkable talents in world rugby, and if you think being from Connacht or Ulster would make people think differently about that, you're completely deluded. Let's keep the dreaded provincialism out of this thread.