Brian O'Driscoll believes setting Ireland a target of being in contention for the Six Nations title on the final weekend when the reigning Grand Slam champions England come to Dublin is a realistic target for Joe Schmidt's current squad.
That came with caveats, first and foremost being the opening game against Scotland at Murrayfield, the importance of Conor Murray, and while the days of panicking when Johnny Sexton is not present, they are still not the same team without him.
“My expectation is to have something to play for on the final weekend,” O’Driscoll said. “We’ve got two Grand Slams for a reason, because they are so bloody hard to come by, and this weekend will be very tough because they [Scotland] look as though they’re relishing the opportunity. There’s big talk coming out of Scotland relishing the opportunity of Ireland coming over there and they feel as though they’re on to something. So I think if we can get over the first two games with two wins I think we’ll be in phenomenal shape.”
While captain of the 2009 Grand Slam team, O’Driscoll was only part of one other title success in his 15 tilts at the Six Nations, and had little doubt as to the key ingredient for any prospective champion.
“Luck. We ran it close countless times, and should have won a Grand Slam probably in 2007. We won other Triple Crowns, came second a lot of times throughout the 2000s. We got our luck in 2009. We got a little bit of luck in winning the championship in 2014 when [Jean-Marc] Doussain missed a sitter of a kick.”
Margins
“We got a little bit of luck in 2015 where [Yoann] Huget had a brain fart and tapped [in the England-France endgame at Twickenham] when there was nothing in it for them. You need a bit of fortune. You hear it a lot but it’s so true. The margins are so tiny that you just have to get the bounce of the ball, you’ve got to get a refereeing decision. It comes in roundabouts – you might not get it for a few years but then it comes back to you.”
O’Driscoll was speaking at Temple Street Children’s University Hospital after giving the Lions head coach Warren Gatland a guided tour of the hospital, which is the Lions’ chosen Irish charity partner for the 2017 tour to New Zealand.
To this end, the Lions will hold a fund-raising dinner at the Mansion House on March 3rd, where O’Driscoll and Gatland will be the guests of honour.
“I’ve been involved with Temple Street 10 years or so; maybe more,” said O’Driscoll. “There is a charity from each country that has partnered up with the Lions – and it is a great initiative rather than just always doing our charity work in the country that we travel to. We look after our own as well. I feel lucky to be able to bring Gats around and show him some of the work being done by the staff and bring a little bit of life to otherwise terrible situations that patients but more so parents find themselves in.”
With regard to the impending Six Nations, O’Driscoll expressed his opposition to the introduction of bonus points.
"I don't like the idea of it, personally. I didn't think there was any problem with it. We lost out in 2007 to that Elvis Vermeulen try that [TMO] Simon McDowell gave against Scotland. I don't want it to be a done deal by the time we get to the last game. I know we had a really special Six Nations a couple of years ago where all three games counted.
“There’s a nostalgia in me about how great a competition it’s been for years. Why change it up? It’s great. Why do you have to tweak it to stay with the times because other hip competitions are doing it?”
Ringrose
Garry Ringrose
, another off the Blackrock production line, is expected to make his Six Nations debut on Saturday and O’Driscoll was also prompted to recall when Ringrose trained with the Irish Under-20s against the senior squad, and left an indelible impression.
“He’s put on a bit of size but he was pretty wiry, so he definitely needed to bulk up a bit, but I think when the talent is there that’s the easier part to put on, rather than the other way around.”
When asked if he saw any of himself in Ringrose, O’Driscoll said: “I would not do the guy a disservice by making any comparison. I think he’s his own guy. He’s got a low-slung style of running. He’s difficult to tackle. His evasion skills are excellent. He can step off both feet. He seems to have a little bit more time than other players to get himself out of a hole when he finds himself down a dark alley. So I think he has all the right attributes to be a big success at 13.”
Gatland, who will name a 37- or 38-man Lions squad in April, believes they will have a stronger hand to choose from than when they last visited New Zealand 12 years ago.
“Try and pick seven loose forwards for me because that is going to be an absolute nightmare in terms of trying to narrow down who the loose forwards are if we are picking seven, we haven’t finalised the number but there is quite a few contenders in that position. We are in a healthy position at the moment from choice, we’re a lot stronger than we were in 2007 and there is going to pretty disappointed players out there who potentially miss out.”
He is expecting a particularly competitive Six Nations this year based on their collective November resurgence, and expressed the hope Sexton would “get a number of games under his belt, potentially in the Six Nations and towards the end of the season. He is obviously a really quality player but that’s the thing as well, there is going to be some real attrition in New Zealand and you are going to need some players that are going to be able to handle what is going to be an incredibly tough and physical tour with the 10 matches and hopefully we have a group of players that can last that time and you don’t pick up too many injuries. That’s something that we have got to be aware of too.”
The British and Irish Lions will hold a fund-raising dinner in aid of the Temple Street Children’s University Hospital at the Mansion House on March 3rd, where Brian O’Driscoll and Warren Gatland will be the guests of honour.
