Brian O'Driscoll: 100th cap this saturday

chupacabra

Great article this, well worth the read...

Tribune wrote:

100 Ireland's: A Century At Centre

Mighty and magical, immovable and inspirational, Malachy Clerkin looks at Brian O'Driscoll's journey to the stars and beyond as the captain gets ready to take to the field in green for the 100th time

The first time Declan Kidney came across Brian O'Driscoll there was no flash of lightning, no puff of the cheeks. He was mostly an out-half back then, on a scholarship at UCD, and Kidney had heard that he hadn't been good enough to make the Blackrock senior team two years previously. Before he came into the Ireland under-19 squad in the spring of 1998, Kidney actually had to ring around asking about him. Thankfully Keith Patton had overseen O'Driscoll with Irish schools teams and vouched for the goods the then 38-year-old coach from Cork was about to receive.

Their first match together was against Italy at Station Road in Sutton. O'Driscoll lined up alongside Kieran Campbell at half-back and if anyone walked away from the game thinking they'd seen the future of Irish rugby, it would have been the nine rather than the 10 they'd have had in mind. Campbell scored an intercept try and set up two more for his wingers with some neat kicking to haul Kidney's side to a 26-19 victory. For his part, the coach says now that as far as he remembers, the best player on the pitch that day was a blond Italian wing-forward who would in time grow up to be Mauro Bergamasco.

Funny what you find when you track down old teamsheets. From that cold Saturday morning in north Dublin, Italy mined Bergamasco and Marco Bortolami, holders of over 160 caps between them plus whatever amount takes them through to next year's World Cup. On the Irish side, Campbell went on to be capped three times and plays with Connacht nowadays and if Donncha O'Callaghan keeps his place for Croke Park on Saturday, it will be his 60th time walking out in an Irish jersey.

But above them all will stand O'Driscoll, winning his 100th cap, his 62nd as captain. He might not have meant a whole lot to Kidney that first day but within 18 months he was a full international, within two years a hat-trick scorer in the Stade de France. In the decade since, whatever the score and whatever his contribution, we've known one thing above all. He's always been the best player on the pitch.

Pick a day, any day. Pick Paris 2000 when he exploded into our lives like the opening riff of 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor'. Pick Lansdowne Road 2004 when he settled everyone's nerves with two lullaby passes for Gordon D'Arcy and Geordan Murphy to put the first Triple Crown to sleep. Pick Twickenham last year when he got up from two mob hits to burrow over for the kind of score Irish backs never attempted before him but have no reason not to in his wake.

Pick a try, any try. The one-handed-reach-back-corkscrew-with-pike effort against Australia in Melbourne during the 2003 World Cup. The tip-toe along the sideline with only a gymnast's beam of room to work in that beat England at Lansdowne in 2005. The one-on-one in Croke Park last February that made Lionel Beauxis wish he'd paid more attention at school and maybe become an accountant instead of a rugby player.

Pick a stat, any stat. Most tries by an Irish player. Most wins by an Irish captain. Sixth-highest Irish points-scorer ever and that's without getting to kick a penalty or a conversion, as all five ahead of him have. And all this without being anywhere near the end yet. Croke Park will greet him on Saturday as the second Irishman to 100 caps after John Hayes beat him to it against England last week. Given a fair wind, he could make it as far as the 115-120 region by the end of the World Cup.

That England game ended without him, the bang from Paul O'Connell's knee leaving him lying on a bed in a Twickenham medical room for the closing 10 minutes. The spaghetti legs he was left with when he tried to insist on standing up and carrying on would give any observer a shiver but it amazed nobody that he at least gave it a go. The older he has got, the tougher he has become.

"He's a hard nut, no doubt about it," mused Jamie Heaslip on Thursday. "It takes a lot for a forward to say that about a back but you can smack that boy about and he'll take it and come right back at you."

When they come to draw up the final accounts for O'Driscoll, that ready toughness will bulk out the credit column immeasurably. Difficult though it might be to credit now, before he came along Irish people didn't expect very much of their rugby players. After Paris, he could have put in an Ireland career of pure silk and scarce on the ground would have been the objectors. You keep scoring the tries there Drico, let the uglies take the kickings.

That hasn't been the way of it. Ask Zane Kirchner, who got emptied by O'Driscoll with the last tackle of the last game against South Africa last November. Ask Danie Rossouw, another Springbok (this time one with a four-stone advantage) who he threw himself at during the second Lions test last summer, causing them both to eventually have to leave the field. Both tackles left him panned out and both left him wanting more.

"I suppose it's indoctrinated into him really," says Kidney. "I suppose that was an overly graphic display of it but he's put himself about like that. He doesn't hold back. The fact that he has the courage to go again and again… even the fact that he wasn't even willing to lie down in the dressing room the minute the final whistle has gone. He wanted to be out there with his teammates, something that he wasn't missing. I think it's something that's either in you or not in you and we're lucky it's in him."

That it's in him is probably what allowed him make the leap from admired to adored in the nation's eyes. There was a short spell there when the blond highlights and the sexiest man magazine covers gave those in search of a reason to scoff an easy pass. The majority of folk just rolled their eyes and allowed him be 24 years old but some made a big deal, mostly to be seen making a big deal. In the end, he wore the bruises and won everyone over.

Wales arrive this week with plenty to fear from him. He's played them 11 times and won eight, scoring five tries. Warren Gatland gave him his Irish debut all those years ago and doesn't mind taking a little bit of reflected glory at the way the wild card he played in Brisbane and Perth in the summer of 1999 has worked out.

"Brian has possibly played his best rugby for a number of years over the past 12 months," he says. "It was great to be involved with him on the Lions tour because I coached him as a kid and gave him his first cap against Australia. He is now a world-class player and it was great to see how much he had matured. Brian's really experienced and has an influence in the big games – we've seen that time and again. He scores a lot of tries and when it matters in the big games he steps up to the plate."

Beyond his own skills and threats, it's the way O'Driscoll affects those around him that has come to the fore as he's got older that especially impresses Gatland. It's as if his presence sprinkles Dricodust on teammates, making them grow along with him.

"We have to recognise that one of the main reasons why Jamie Roberts performed so well on the Lions tour was because of the man outside him," he says. "Brian was a massive influence on what Jamie achieved and I thanked him before we returned home for the time and work he had done with Jamie. In fact the partnership was great for the both of them. The threat and experience of Brian gave Jamie some room to move but then when Jamie started causing the damage he did, it gave Brian space to show what he can do as well. It was one of the partnerships that really worked in South Africa."

Roberts is quick to agree. He went to South Africa a huge, baby-faced 22-year-old who sometimes had trouble getting out of his own way and came home looking like one of the most dangerous European centres of the age. That it hasn't gone quite to script ever since might just be one of those things. Or it might be that O'Driscoll made Roberts look more than he is. Time will tell. As it stands, Roberts has huge admiration for his erstwhile centre partner.

"We became good mates on tour," he says. "He's a top bloke, a real gent. On the pitch he is more or less a mind-reader. He'll go down as one of the best centres ever. For a young player like me, he was a great guy to be playing alongside. It was pretty special."

Likewise, Heaslip was 21 when he came into the Leinster set-up full-time at the end of the summer in 2005 and for the first couple of months, O'Driscoll was in rehab recovering from the All Black spear tackle. So it took him a while to get to know what set him apart. He can't for the life of him see himself making it to 100 caps but at the same time isn't at all surprised that O'Driscoll is about to.

"He is unbelievably professional in everything he does," says Heaslip. "He's as competitive as Paulie – the two of them are the most competitive people I've ever met. In training, he just doesn't accept anything less than the best of himself and that's a high standard for the rest of us to get up to."

Heaslip belongs to the next wave of Irish rugby player – talented, sure of himself, unused to defeat. It's not too much of a stretch to say that without O'Driscoll, the likes of him and Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald wouldn't have quite the swagger they do. A few years back in these pages, Paul O'Connell mentioned unprompted that whatever confidence Ireland players had now, they owed a measure of it to their captain. "We're not afraid of winning the Six Nations," he said. "In fairness, a lot of that comes from Brian. He likes the idea of being confident and being sure of himself and his ability. And I think we all follow him in that to some extent."

O'Driscoll's legacy will be that in part. Whenever he finishes up, however many caps he takes away with him, that idea that it's okay to be the best player on the pitch and to think you have the best team in the tournament will linger. Three weeks ago, Keith Wood recalled with genuine reverence the excitement he felt when he realised in the Stade de France that day 10 years ago that here at last was a player in an Ireland jersey who didn't care that you were supposed to lose in Paris. And that was Keith Wood.

In time, he'll go and someone else will follow on. There will be another DiMaggio. For now, it's enough for us to revel in the fact that we were around to see him change the game.

O'Driscoll in numbers

99 – Number of games played since his debut against Australia in Brisbane on 12 June 1999. Ireland lost 46-10, a record margin between the two countries.

98 – Number of Ireland games started. His one substitute appearance came against Romania in the final pool match at the 1999 World Cup. He still managed a drop goal.

38 – Number of tries, the Irish record. Closest to him is Denis Hickie on 29. Of the current players with a prayer of catching him, Tommy Bowe is on 13.

5 – Number of drop goals, which puts him at eighth on the all-time Irish list. Ahead of him are Barry McGann, Michael Kiernan, Mike Gibson (all on six), Dickie Lloyd, Ollie Campbell (both on seven), David Humphreys (eight) and Ronan O'Gara (14).

205 – Number of points, which puts him sixth behind Campbell (217), Eric Elwood (296), Kiernan (308), Humphreys (560), and O'Gara (952)

0 – Number of penalties and conversions included in his total. Only Doug Howlett (255), Shane Williams (250), Joe Rokocoko (225) and Rory Underwood (210) have score more international points without penalties or conversions

11 – Wins from 11 games against Italy, the most over any country. Has losing records against New Zealand (no wins in seven matches), Australia (2/9) and France (4/11), and winning records against England (7/10), Wales (8/11) and Scotland (9/11). He comes out all square against South Africa, having face them six times with three losses and three wins.

What an immense milestone for an immense person. He has brought so much to irish life in rugby and in general over the years, we will never see another like him again and i for one will beam with pride when i tell me kids in years to come that i witnessed a few of those 100's of caps in the flesh. Fair play Brian.

phog

Great achievement, the 2nd Irish player in as many games to pass this milestone. Delighted for him and with his current form he will have many more caps to his name.

[Jackass]

Agree with the sentiment, I remember being in Lansdowne road for his hat-trick against Agen, for his bizzare skill against Ulster, in RDS for THAT try v Wasps, multiple Irish games seeing him dominate teams...it really is like being able to say you saw your Maradonna or Pele or Best or whoever play...his legacy will live long long after he leaves the game.

Again, as with Hayes, and amazing achievement for an amazing talent. (you don't get to 100 caps for nothing!)

Also, good to be back after a lonnnnnng injury lay off, trying to get my boards.ie password reset!! :pac:

anonymous_joe

Heh, good to see ya [jackass].

Anyone see Tim Horan's comments about O'Driscoll? Waxing lyrical really. IIRC, O'Driscoll always said Horan was the best he ever played against.

thomond2006

There is also the small matter of John Hayes getting his 101st cap.

Great to see you back jackass.

stephen_n

Read that yesterday, goes to show you can never tell how players will or won't develop. It's hard to imagine BOD as being anything other than shear brilliance and always destined to be what he became!

Podge_irl

[Jackass] wrote: »

Agree with the sentiment, I remember being in Lansdowne road for his hat-trick against Agen, for his bizzare skill against Ulster

I didn't see him live as often as I would have liked given I couldn't have afforded to go to internationals even if I had been able, and have lived abroad for a while now, but I was there for those two games and they were something else. Moments you can tell the kids about (though to be perfectly honest, I had no idea what was going on at the time!).

Euro_Kraut

Good article but:

Pick Twickenham last year when he got up from two mob hits to burrow over for the kind of score Irish backs never attempted before him but have no reason not to in his wake

He either means Cardiff or he means the England game in Croke Park.


In anycase, well done Brain. The outstanding Irish sportsman of his generation. Irish rugby will never be the same again thanks to him.He has set the bench mark for all other to follow. He is our Beckenbaurer, our Cryuff our Jack Nicholas.

It been an honour to see him play... and plently more to come

thebaz

just a legend - exploding on the scene as the most exciting Irish back I ever saw - getting speared , and coming back, a different more physical and committed player - even in the debacle of the last world cup , I thought he was by far our best player -

big congrats

twinytwo

Could be sumed up as the inspiration,the back bone and the driving force of irish rugby for the best part of the last 10 years. Took everything thrown at him from the spear tackle to the punch in the warm up to the last world cup to all the late hits and dirty tackles, and kept coming back. A true hero in my book and the greatest irish sportsman ever.

pappyodaniel

My first memory of the great man was when he came on in a friendly or WC qualifier against Romania. Ireland were typically sluggish with no creativity or imagination in their back play. On comes this young fella and within seconds makes a lovely outside break which almost results in a try. It was at a time when we were used to centres like Danaher or Maggs, honest players who'll tackle but not manage much else.

It's been quite a journey.

walshb

BOD could have retired after those three tries vs France in 2000 and he would go down as an Irish sporting great.

His longevity, toughness, character and versatility really are something to be proud of.
The man, along with Ronan, O'Connell, Hayes and a couple of others, were the most important Irish players in our recent history.

Podge_irl

walshb wrote: »

The man, along with Ronan, O'Connell, Hayes and a couple of others, were the most important Irish players in our recent history.

All excellent players, but quite frankly he's still worlds apart from them in terms of both his ability and importance to the team. He's irreplaceable and it will be interesting to see how Ireland move on without him. He's easily Ireland's best player of the professional era, and conceivably ever.

walshb

Podge_irl wrote: »

All excellent players, but quite frankly he's still worlds apart from them in terms of both his ability and importance to the team. He's irreplaceable and it will be interesting to see how Ireland move on without him. He's easily Ireland's best player of the professional era, and conceivably ever.

Well, it's like comparing a great QB to a great TE or DE really. All magnificent players and all with their own unique skill set. But, there is something that extra bit special with BOD, as you say. Worlds apart? No!

Danakin

It's been a delight watching O'Driscoll over the years and I think that he has not just been one of the best rugby players we've ever produced but one of the most admirable and likeable sportsmen ever to come out of Ireland.

He's always been humble, had a good word to say about teammates and opponents, and come back from terrible injuries (like the spear) and losses of form. It's been great too to have a player that is undoubtedly at the top of his sport and someone that is as admired on the world stage as he is here.

When I was down in France and when i've met Aussies and Kiwis and they find out I'm Irish literally the first thing they've done is mention and compliment O'Driscoll.

My personal favourite memory of him is the 2005 try against France in Landsdowne. That was the first year that we were going in to the 6 Nations genuinely believing that we could and possibly would win the Slam but we were down against the French. O'Driscoll just scored a terrific try and even though we lost I got a real feeling that he was saying "we're not going down without a fight here". Cracking try when i think about it.

Co45

walshb wrote: »

Well, it's like comparing a great QB to a great TE or DE really. All magnificent players and all with their own unique skill set. But, there is something that extra bit special with BOD, as you say. Worlds apart? No!

I would agree with worlds apart to be honest. Players like Hayes and O'Gara are very important to the Irish set up but they will never be remembered internationally like O'Driscoll will be. O'Driscoll in my opinion will go down as one of if not THE greatest player to ever play the game.
Lets not downplay that. O'Driscoll is worlds apart from any player we have EVER produced. No other player has not only lit up the international stage but lead and been around at the very top for as long as O'Driscoll has.

And thats no slight to any his fellow team mates as I consider O'Driscoll to be worlds ahead of most other international players as well let alone fellow Irish ones!

Ciaran-Irl

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7935857.stm

Brian's greatest 6N moments.

What a legend.

Spud83

Ciaran-Irl wrote: »

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7935857.stm

Brian's greatest 6N moments.

What a legend.

Available to UK users only.

Ciaran-Irl

Spud83 wrote: »

Shoot. Why is it working on my computer I wonder? I'm in Dublin. Anyway... Sorry.

Spud83

Ciaran-Irl wrote: »

Shoot. Why is it working on my computer I wonder? I'm in Dublin. Anyway... Sorry.

Do you work for a UK Company?

Ciaran-Irl

Spud83 wrote: »

Do you work for a UK Company?

Nope - certainly don't have a UK IP. Checked before.

Judgement Day

What can you say, 100 caps today, without doubt the most exciting player to ever wear the Irish jersey - and, who knows, the best yet to come! Good on you Brian and thanks for the great days!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW2Yglb4ls4

thomond2006

ESPN Classic are showing BOD's greatest games for Ireland next week, 9:25pm Monday to Friday.

Monday is Ireland vs France 2000.

d'Oracle

He's a decent player.....

gcgirl

Judgement Day wrote: »

What can you say, 100 caps today, without doubt the most exciting player to ever wear the Irish jersey - and, who knows, the best yet to come! Good on you Brian and thanks for the great days!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW2Yglb4ls4

Amazing player !! and i'm on his jersey today woo hoo!

Micky Dolenz

Anyone see the RTE news sports section last night. O Driscoll and the rest were running real funny, no doubt taking the P out of DOC, poor fellow, seems to be the butt of many a joke :pac:

JJ

In BOD we trust, one-hundred caps.

unaetoile

Congrats to a great ambassador of Rugby, and of Ireland. Brian's workload and commitment is an example for all sports men - a 100% comitment to his team and his work around the pitch, combined with an individual worldclass talent (without the swagger and ego of many in other team sports that have the trappings but not the integrity) - well done brian. You shine a beacon of example to all beyond sporting field.

Podge_irl

I love this quote from Hendo in the BBC build up to the game (which was excellent by the way).

Rob Henderson wrote:

He's just a genuine character, man and rugby player. I'm delighted I played with him and against him...not so much against him actually cause he made me look silly on more than one occasion

Wilko and Martyn Williams could not have been less effusive in their praise either.