FOR THE more gullible student of sports media in recent times this latest herculean performance by Brian O’Driscoll will come as a surprise. The Ireland captain and long-term leaseholder of the number 13 jersey was supposedly long past these type of days.
The crowd reaction as he gingerly rose to his feet not once, twice but three times was akin to those present in the Philadelphia Spectrum the night Apollo Creed pummelled some has-been heavyweight. As he straightened and trotted back to midfield a tremor of noise reverberated around Croke Park. Riki Flutey nailed him first, a borderline but legal tackle, moments after the Ireland captain had done likewise to his New Zealand-born opposing centre.
Two minutes later O’Driscoll was dashing down the left wing; nearing isolation, he chipped Delon Armitage only to be taken out by the England fullback. Again, he required sustained attention before rising once more. Five minutes later, somehow fully recovered, he did what six forward rumbles could not and slalomed over for the try that finally put Ireland two scores clear.
Credit was passed to the forwards for softening the Red Rose defensive line but how was the body holding up after such exertion (he also delivered a massive tackle on Nick Kennedy and Declan Kidney revealed a concern over his notorious hamstring earlier in the week)?
“Sore. That was one of the more physical Test matches I’ve played in in recent years. You always expect that against the better teams in the world.”
Gordon D’Arcy never so much as stripped down but there was a concerned hush around Croke Park after the Armitage collision.
“I was not really thinking I’m going to come off. Just trying to take five minutes by five minutes when you are struggling a little bit. I was grand,” added O’Driscoll.
Any issues with the Flutey or Armitage incidents? “Well, they hurt. From that end, I’m not okay but I’m not here to be judging what sort of tackles they were. I’m in the moment. You get to see a hell of a lot more that we do as players so needless to say, I’m not going to hold grudges against the two boys.”
There was also the small matter of a drop goal to make it 6-3 early in the second half that finally rewarded a monopoly of possession after Ronan O’Gara made it one from four strikes at goal. Later, he badly screwed an easier pot shot.
Those who remember his schoolboy career enjoyed the drop goal cameo all the more. The English reporters wanted to know if this has always been part of the repertoire.
“Did it look like I practised it? No, it was a freebie. I saw the referee’s hand out. Paddy (Wallace) said that I just got into the slot ahead of him because he was going to have a go. It just shows when I had a little bit of time; on the other one, it is not my forte. I’ll leave that up to Rog and the boys.”
That O’Gara had such a poor return from place kicks was addressed by asking Kidney if a “Plan B” was available should the 90-cap outhalf ever needed to be replaced.
“There is,” said Kidney without saying what it is, “I’ll go back to my golf: what if they lip out? Two of them came off the post. Right? We had to take a little from the chasers. Right? How much courage to stand up and take that conversion at the end, right?
“We do have a back-up plan but part of it is my belief in Ronan. If things are going over it’s an easy game. It’s when they are not going over, to have the courage to stand up and to put in the tackles he put in today. He had a different type of game. Not the one that other people see but he did an awful lot of good work. They were coming down his channel all day and he stood up to it time and time again.
“You cannot coach that. That’s something that comes from within himself. That shows huge courage.”
And that is where this team are at right now.
