Lure of more medals to keep O'Driscoll keen

WE WENT all existential on Brian O’Driscoll late Saturday night. What keeps you keeping on? Is it the landmarks or is it more human than that, asked one of the elder scribes.

“Nah, it’s medals.” It’s just medals? “Yep. Trophies and medals.”

It took him a while to start gathering all this silverware. Sure, he won a schools’ medal in 1996, an under-19 World Cup in 1998 and a few AIL titles with UCD and Blackrock, but his Leinster and Ireland career was starved of genuine success until that glorious 2009 campaign.

Three years on, and after nerve-adjusting neck surgery, he is a three-time European champion. He talked about building a dynasty back after ’09, well, here it is – Leinster are the most successful team in Irish sporting history. Ever.

At 33, O’Driscoll remains a major factor in that progress. Just remember the gliding step past Johann Muller and perfect reverse pass for Seán O’Brien leading up to Cian Healy’s try.

It must feel even sweeter to be weighed down so heavily with all these medals on the down slope of a glorious career? “Yeah, it is. I’ve said it before, it is about being selfish and wanting more now.” Three gold stars on the blue jersey puts Leinster in a rarefied atmosphere.

Some Toulouse rugby men and footballers of Ajax (1970s), Liverpool (1970-80s), Milan (1980-90s) and Barcelona (2000-10s) can relate to the Leinster dressing-room the other night but not many others.

O’Driscoll gave us a brief glimpse into that unique gathering of men.

“It’s funny even in the dressing-room there, because it wasn’t as tense going into the last 10 minutes for us, it’s different, there is still great elation but it is different from the other two.”

Expectation has soared now. This is an exploration to a whole new Himalayan plateau of sporting consciousness.

“People were saying it tongue in cheek but ‘can you do three-in-a-row?’ The pleasure of being involved with this group of players is that I know how hungry they are and I know how much they push one another. I would imagine we would definitely look to go out and try to defend the title as much as we did this year.”

The knee, what of the knee? “Yeah, it’s okay. There was a little bit of blood so I got a breather for five or six minutes.”

Having only returned in late March, sure, his season is only getting going now.

“Exactly. I’m meant to be fresh as a daisy. It is nice to come in and add that to the squad but, to be honest with you, we have been looked after so well from a conditioning point of view that guys feel fresh.”

Leinster have one more ask of him this season, against the Ospreys in Sunday’s Pro12 final, but the nation need their super hero more than ever. Three games in that land of the long white cloud. The place where no Irish team has ever won. The place where O’Driscoll more than anyone on the planet, when you consider what the All Blacks did to him in 2005, wants to win a Test match.

“I think he is good to go,” said Joe Schmidt. “I think he probably missed a little bit of match fitness, he was just starting to get match fit and missing a couple of weeks was not the best thing for him. I think with a little bit of time under his belt next week, he’ll be right for New Zealand – as long as he’s got a raincoat.”

Can Ireland benefit from this European final pairing much like the southern hemisphere national sides always profit from dominating Super Rugby?

“Obviously, there will be disappointment from the Ulster lads but I think we have to look at the fact that we had two provinces in the Heineken final and use that confidence to channel it in the best possible way for the tour down in New Zealand,” said O’Driscoll.

“We are fortunate that we have another game to think about this weekend but as soon as we get into camp we will definitely switch onto the job of travelling down there and hopefully trying to attain that first Test victory against the All Blacks.”

O’Driscoll admitted to learning something new from Schmidt’s coaching every day. It prompted the question about the Leinster boss assisting Ireland’s attacking strategies in New Zealand.

“That’s not for me to say. Declan is the coach involved and he is doing a good job. He has got his own staff around him and I will leave that for you guys to write about,” said O’Driscoll.