Interview Mick O'Driscoll: John O'Sullivan talks to Mick O'Driscoll, who is loving life with Perpignan despite being sidelined through injury
Mick O'Driscoll tossed in the highs and lows, the elation and crushing disappointments, his fears and aspirations, snapped the locks of a suitcase and departed for Perpignan.
He didn't look back, resolved instead to concentrate on what the future held. He knew he needed to break the ties, the strong bonds that nurtured him as a rugby player from the time he turned his back on the GAA when he walked into the grounds of Presentation Brothers College, Cork, as a 12-year-old adolescent.
Representative honours beckoned. Munster Schools, Ireland under-19s, under-21s, the Ireland A team and finally two senior caps for the national side. And at club level there was a three-year stint at UCC and then the short journey to Temple Hill and Cork Constitution.
There was also Munster. Two Heineken Cup finals, a remarkable European odyssey over four or five seasons, an integral part of those occasions in many respects but, deep down, he knew something wasn't quite right.
He played between 75 and 80 times - he's not quite sure - for Munster without becoming a fixture in the starting XV. It doesn't diminish the contribution he made or his enjoyment at the time of those riotously colourful, memorable Munster pilgrimages, nor could he ignore the nagging ambition to be first choice.
O'Driscoll simply had the misfortune of being around when the provincial engine room was manned by Mick Galwey and John Langford, the former an Irish sporting icon, the Australian no less effective and hugely popular. Then when one moved to the periphery and the other returned to Oz, two young tyros stepped in from the shadows; Paul O'Connell and Donncha O'Callaghan.
He could easily have become bitter, resentful but he was neither. He recognised that coaches make choices and while he naturally might not agree, there was no bias, no room for grumbling. It would have been easy to sit back, be part of the match 22 and bide his time until injury provided him with an opportunity. Or worse still, accept his fate, accept the lesser role within the squad and risk splinters.
What O'Driscoll did took courage and honesty. He looked outside the Munster bubble and headed for the faraway hills. "I can't put into words how much of a wrench it was to leave Munster. To be brutally honest I never wanted to leave in the first place and I mean that in the best possible sense.
"I don't mean it in a bad way. Munster is my home and I've known nothing else other than Munster rugby and I absolutely loved my time there and, hopefully, one day I will return. I had to be honest about how things had gone over the past two seasons.
"On a personal level I thought I'd done a reasonably good job; the coaches had to make their decision. They decided on the team they wanted. Without trying to sound cocky or trying to demean anyone who has been brought in, I know I would have got game time.
"That wasn't a huge issue but I felt that all things being equal, with everyone fit, I wasn't going to be in the 15. I spent the last four or five years on the bench without ever really breaking into the team for a long stint, which was a bit disappointing. That was down to me more than everything else.
"I wasn't going to get any better staying in Munster. I'm not saying that I would have given up. Sitting on the bench wouldn't have been good enough for me; that prompted my decision to make a break."
Last April O'Driscoll visited Perpignan. He used to holiday in that part of France, en famille as they say in these parts, and had played against the club on three or four occasions, establishing an affinity for the proud Catalan outfit.
He had a quick look at Northampton and there were other phone offers but Perpignan made a special effort to tempt him from Leeside. He sensed that it was the right place for him and that he'd settle easily in the South of France. It wasn't just about karma.
Perpignan had surprised everyone by reaching last season's Heineken Cup final, beating Llanelli and Leinster away from home before falling narrowly to Toulouse in the final at Lansdowne Road. They had recruited aggressively and by the time O'Driscoll signed on the dotted line, Australian centre Daniel Herbert, All Black Scott Robertson and England internationals Tim Stimpson and Dan Luger had all indicated they would be joining the club.
O'Driscoll, who celebrated his 25th birthday a fortnight ago, hasn't questioned his choice and this from a player who has spent the last nine weeks rehabilitating from a serious knee injury.
"I have no regrets. I love life over here. It's completely different, even rugby wise, but that is exactly what I needed."
He had played seven matches for his new club when disaster struck against Brive on the last weekend in September. The incident occurred within 90 seconds of the kick-off, arising out of the first scrum. An opposing player came around the side of a ruck in possession of the ball and a team-mate of O'Driscoll's drove him straight into the Corkman. O'Driscoll still had one leg trapped in the ruck and the impact and sudden wrench told him to fear the worst.
The injury was about as bad as a player can sustain without tearing the cruciate knee ligament and requiring knee surgery. He resumes contact training this week and in seven days time hopes to play a second-team match before making the first-team squad for a French Championship match on the 19th of this month. Europe must wait until January.
O'Driscoll has borne the frustration with good grace and it hasn't marred his rugby education. For the first five weeks of pre-season, the squad only trained three days a week because the mercury was hitting 35 degrees. Training sessions don't last any longer than an hour and this is the first season that the club will have a nutritionist.
There are other differences. "The coach decides here and there's no discussion (with players) unlike at home. Lineouts and scrums are never done in training sessions but rather one on a Tuesday evening, the other on a Wednesday. Contact is kept to a bare minimum.
"We eat out five or six nights a week as things are so much cheaper. You'd have a good dinner for €15 to €20." He laughs: "I never drank wine and haven't started since I came here.
"Basically they (the players) wouldn't go out every weekend but when they do go out, it's done in style. It's the same as every team; there are certain guys who drink every weekend, guys who don't drink at all and others who drink now and again.
"Guys would have a glass of wine or beer with lunch. If I was out with the Munster guys at home you wouldn't be drinking beer unless you were out on the lash, whereas here they'd have the beers but it's a more modest consumption."
On a two-year contract with the option of a third, O'Driscoll is building a house in Perpignan, taking French lessons and is now conversant but soon will be fluent. He still harbours ambitions to play for Ireland.
The suggestion is that fortune favours the brave. O'Driscoll should qualify for the dividend.
