Brian O'Driscoll
Brian O'Driscoll
NationalityIrish
ProfessionAthlete
Date of Birth21 January 1979
CountryIreland
When you are captain, you are never speaking for yourself.
australia goes great highlight less lions might sound strange time tour won
The 2001 tour to Australia would have been a great highlight in my career if the Lions had won the series. That might sound strange because it was a great tour in many ways, but, for me, the more time goes by, the less of a career highlight it becomes, and just more of a frustration.
behind kids mentality playing shaping sports
Team sports are very important for shaping personalities. It's important that kids understand the mentality behind playing team sports and playing for one another and playing with friends.
family impartial interest point
When you talk to family and friends, they can't tell you anything from an impartial point of view because they have a vested interest in you.
learnt second takes
One thing I learnt early on my career is that personal gratification takes second place.
became
I was a football fan before I became a rugby fan.
knowing knowledge tomato wisdom
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.
bit gave quite relatively
Rugby gave me a confidence. I was quite shy and relatively timid, but it gave me the confidence to be a little bit more out-going and back myself a bit more.
beauty camp characters guys lions players teams
You go into the Lions camp with preconceived ideas about players and teams and then find guys are actually very different, and the beauty of the Lions is that all those characters are moulded into it. I find that exciting.
lose point remember
There is no point winning the semi if you don't win the final. It's as simple as that. No one will remember a big semifinal if you lose the final, so you have to do it all again.
bit launching
There have been a couple of things I've been involved in launching that have been a bit more public, but I've always had other things tipping away in the background.
answer believe inclined maybe players rather totally
In a team situation, I think the players are more inclined to give the answer they believe the psychologist is looking for rather than maybe being totally honest.
adjustment motor period repetition stop time work
If you stop doing a skill you've done for years for any period of time, there's an adjustment period to get it back. In anything you do. Motor skills won't work as fast, because repetition is everything.
adjusting fixed life next period player rugby
I've got my head fixed on the next part of life. I know there will be an adjusting period of just not being a rugby player for a while, and over that period I'll get my head around what the next challenge involves.