RUGBY:ALTHOUGH RESIGNED to missing the end of a losing Lions series once again, Brian O'Driscoll admits this has been the most enjoyable Lions tour of the three he has been on. The Ireland captain also didn't rule out the possibility of returning with the Lions to Australia in four years' time and prior to his homeward flight this morning, he described the controversial comments of Springboks' coach Pieter de Villiers regarding Schalk Burger's gouging of Luke Fitzgerald as disgraceful and despicable.
“It’s really disappointing,” O’Driscoll told The Irish Times last night after the concussion he sustained in the Lions’ 28-25 defeat to South Africa in Loftus Versfeld last Saturday ruled him out of next Saturday’s third and final Test in Johannesburg.
“And the weird thing is that I look at a third Test that doesn’t mean anything from a series point of view, but it means everything from the point of view of still playing for the Lions because I never saw myself still playing for another four years. So I always felt that this would be my last Lions’ tour but at the same time you see Simon Shaw and think: ‘Well, there’s hope’. I don’t know, maybe I’ve been a little bit tainted by a little bit of success this year.”
O’Driscoll was aware this would have been his 100th Test match, counting the six he has played for the Lions along with his 93 Ireland caps, which instead will hopefully come next November.
As things stand, that would be when leading Ireland out against Australia at Croke Park on Sunday, November 15th, while there has also been talk of an additional fixture against South Africa (whom they play on the 28th in Croke Park) in Hong Kong, which would be unusual to say the least. But now he has the target of reaching a century of Tests for Ireland next season.
“I am aware. It’s disappointing but at the same time, in a way, it would have been fantastic knowing you were playing 100 having something to play for. It’ll revert back to playing 100 Tests for Ireland, hopefully.”
In relaxed and good form, O’Driscoll also felt compelled to respond to the comments by de Villiers in which he said gouging was part of the game and refused to condemn Burger’s gouging of Fitzgerald last Saturday, even though the Springbok coach issued an apology on Monday evening.
“When I heard those comments yesterday I wondered how someone can get away with something like that. Irrespective of any apology today I find it an absolute disgrace that a coach of a national team can make comments as he did about gouging being part of the game.
“Someone made a really good point to me that kids, or parents watching an interview like that, questioning whether they should have their kid play rugby or soccer, that’s their decision made right there. To hear a national coach saying in any shape or form, gouging is acceptable in the modern day game is despicable. I find that mind-boggling, that you can have a national team coach saying something like that. Essentially it brought the game into disrepute.”
This will go down as O’Driscoll’s best season. He adopted a new training regime, trimmed himself down by a stone and conscious that he would be turning 30 last January, he returned for the start of his 12th season with renewed vigour. He captained Ireland to their first Grand Slam in 61 years, helped inspire Leinster to their first Heineken Cup, was joint leading try scorer and player of the tournament in the Six Nations, leading try scorer in the Heineken Cup and IRUPA Players’ Player of the Year. Yet it ends with a third losing Lions’ series.
“That’s the thing. What I hate is that essentially that’s the last chapter which will prey on your holidays a little bit. That’s the taste that’s left in your mouth; it’s defeat in a series with the Lions, having won the Slam and the Heineken Cup.
“It’s disappointing to think that you win those two in a year that you lose a Lions’ series. In another year you’d be on a complete high throughout the whole summer, whereas now you’re left with the feeling that I’ve been involved in three Lions’ tours and I’ve lost the three of them. That’s not the way this year I saw it ending up after the first two Tests.”
O’Driscoll always said this tour was about winning, but now that it’s over, he appreciates that this was the most enjoyable of the three Lions’ tour he’s been on. Along with Adam Jones, he was due on the first flight from Johannesburg to Heathrow this morning, both for medical and personal reasons.
“I’ve learned an awful lot from four years ago about not staying around after your tour has finished. I stayed for a fortnight and I look back and that was not my smartest move. If I’m not going to be on the training pitch at least trying to help the team win the third Test, there’s no need for me to be hanging around.”
