RUGBY: The news that Ireland and Leinster captain Brian O'Driscoll has extended his contract with the IRFU until the end of the 2007 World Cup is a short-term coup for the union and a compliment to the new regime in the province.
It will also dispel speculation about an oft-mooted move to French pastures, albeit if only for a year or so.
By pledging his future to Leinster and Ireland until the World Cup in France, which concludes in October of 2007, O'Driscoll (26), has in effect extended his existing contract - which was due to expire next June - with Leinster for another year and with Ireland for another 17 months. Thereafter he has kept his options open.
Nonetheless, after last summer's haemorrhage, this commitment is a timely fillip for Leinster and Ireland alike. While O'Driscoll might well have decided to stay put until RWC 2007 anyway, the upturn in Leinster's performances and the highly positive impression created by Michael Cheika and David Knox was a strong spur also.
"A huge part of it has been how much I'm enjoying Leinster," O'Driscoll enthused yesterday. "There was only ever positive feedback from the lads when I was on the road back from injury, and from talking to Checks and doing my stuff with Knoxie I've really enjoyed the training. And that's been a big part of my decision.
"They're very different personalities, which I think also helps. Hopefully we can continue like this. I wouldn't say we're a changed side, but the standard of rugby we're trying to play is something I'd like to be involved in.
"We can only improve as players if we continue along these lines, and we're certainly going places. You look at some of the players coming through and the guys who are in good form, and it's not all doom and gloom in Irish rugby, as some of the public out there seem to think."
Although he will still be only 32 when the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand comes around, O'Driscoll gave an insight into his long-term thinking by conceding: "I think too, potentially this World Cup could possibly be my last one, and I want to give it as good a go as I can. You're also looking at a situation where the World Cup is in France, and to be playing in France mightn't be the best option at this stage."
By remaining centrally contracted to the IRFU, O'Driscoll's game-time and fitness regimes, including extended pre-seasons, will be more sympathetically monitored. For example, last season he played just seven times for Ireland and in 11 games for Leinster prior to the Lions' tour, and in the 2003-04 campaign, a World Cup season, O'Driscoll played in 14 of Ireland's 15 Tests and just six of Leinster's games.
Admittedly injuries were a factor in both campaigns, as they were in the 2002-03 season prior to a World Cup year, when O'Driscoll played in 11 of Ireland's 14 Tests (missing the summer series) and 11 Leinster games.
By contrast, the demands of club owners and coaches in the French top 14 would be much greater: Yannick Jauzion played 42 competitive matches last season for Toulouse and France.
Speculation that O'Driscoll might move to France, particularly Biarritz, at the end of this season intensified when he was the guest of honour at a match between Biarritz and Stade Francais in September and sat beside the club president and benefactor, Marcel Martin, at the pre-match lunch. Introduced to the crowd before the game, O'Driscoll told local television: "I have never hidden the fact that at some stage I would like to play in France. I like the brand of rugby played here, the country and the atmosphere at matches.
"My contract in Ireland finishes next June, so I will have a decision to make before then. Whatever path I take, it will not be for purely monetary reasons. At some stage of my career I would like to experience a new lifestyle and a different culture."
Yesterday he maintained: "The Biarritz visit became a little bit of a circus, which was not my intention".
While admitting there was "the temptation to play elsewhere, to experience a new lifestyle and a new style of rugby", he and his father, Dr Frank O'Driscoll, who represented him in discussions with the union, maintained there had been no talks with Biarritz or anyone else.
"There were no talks with anyone else and I'd like to give credit to the union," said the Irish captain. "They were very easy to negotiate with and very understanding of what my needs were once I decided what I wanted to do."
On the premise, true or otherwise, that he was on €350,000 per year, O'Driscoll's new deal might be worth in the region of €400,000. Despite confident signs they would get their man, Biarritz had no comment on yesterday's development.
Expressing his "delight" at yesterday's announcement, Philip Browne, chief executive of the IRFU, stated: "It is the on-going determination of the IRFU, where possible, to keep the leading players at home and manage their welfare. It is, therefore, most pleasing to see that a player of Brian's standing in the game has committed himself to both club and country."
O'Driscoll is set to play for the first time since the Lions tour on either St Stephen's Day, for Leinster's Celtic League match against Ulster in Belfast, or against Munster at the RDS on New Year's Eve, and ideally would play against Llanelli on January 7th in the same competition, before Leinster's concluding two pool games at home to Glasgow and away to Bath in the European Cup over the ensuing weekends.
"The shoulder gets a little bit sore after certain sessions and is sorer on some days than others," he admitted yesterday, "but this is what you have to put up with. I'm taking part in quite controlled contact and I'm starting to get closer to full contact, but there's still a huge difference between that and matches, so it's still going to require time and I'm not going to rush things."
