Brian O'Driscoll said that he could not have had a better send off in his final game for Ireland in Dublin. The Irish centre, who received a sustained standing ovation from the 50,000 crowd, said that the afternoon was a special one for him and that the Irish team is in safe hands going forward to Paris next weekend with the Six Nations Championship at stake.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better close to playing an in Irish jersey,” said O’Driscoll. “Scoring 46 points made the day I’ll remember that for a long, long time. I wasn’t emotional before the game. It got emotional at the end. When I look back over it I may get emotional but it was very, very special, very special . . . a little embarrassing but I’ll remember it.
“It was nice to have involvement in important moments in the game. I take a lot of satisfaction in the setting up of tries as well as scoring them . . . I have to because I don’t score so many myself!”
O’Driscoll added that the first half is where a lot of hard work softened up Italy before the second half provided much needed tries.
“It was a really good second half performance,” added O’Driscoll. “We did good work in the first half tiring them out. I think we got our just rewards in second half. It was unbelievably fast. Bone dry and a fast track, it was just the way we wanted it.
“Since the All Blacks game I think we created an atmosphere and instilled confidence in the crowd. Hopefully that’s a good thing going forward and we can hold on to that.
Looking ahead to next weekend’s match in France, where a win of any hue will almost certainly seal a Six Nations title given Ireland’s superior points difference, O’Driscoll said: “It was a real semi-final for us because we’d nothing next week if we didn’t win. We’ll know what we need to do when we get to France.
“I think we’ve a really strong squad. That’s something that’s come on in the last four or five years. Joe has put an emphasis on the bench where they come in and make an impact, not just come on.
“I think we have the capabilities of winning in France, maybe more so now than in previous times. It’s been 42 years, one win, one draw. We know the size of the challenge but when we go well we are a hard team to contain.”
Ireland coach Joe Schmidt paid tribute to O’Driscoll and the fact that the record breaking centre had a hand in at least three of the tries scored in the Aviva Stadium. Speaking after the match Schmidt heaped praise on the 35-year-old, saying: “He made it special because he had a hand in three tries. He is a creative man.
“He’s courageous and he has a bit of class about him. It was great for him. The crowd were phenomenal even on the big screen when he popped up the crowd were raucous. They acknowledged him with massive support.
“I’m delighted he stayed on. Even for the guys like Darren Cave and Robbie Henshaw in camp . . . I think he’s brought on those guys. Whoever takes over he has passed on a lot of knowledge. In that context he has been generous to a fault. He was pretty generous in his performance today.”
