NSW Waratahs a chance to lure Irish superstar Brian O'Driscoll to Super Rugby
Ireland's captain Brian O'Driscoll is eyeing a possible move to the Waratahs.
Source: The Daily Telegraph
Brian O'Driscoll is confident ahead of the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia.
Source: The Daily Telegraph
IRISH superstar Brian O'Driscoll says he would consider playing a season for the Waratahs under former coach Michael Cheika.
O'Driscoll has long harboured an ambition to play Super Rugby, and explored the possibility as recently as last year.
The appointment of Cheika as NSW coach - who O'Driscoll admires after five years together at Leinster - has opened a door for the British and Irish Lions centre to become a marquee signing on par with the Waratahs' new neighbour Alessandro Del Pierro.
O'Driscoll told
The Daily Telegraph while family logistics of a season in Sydney in 2014 might prove difficult, he still views Super Rugby as a tempting challenge and would be happy to discuss it with Cheika.
"What excites me is the challenge of playing against the calibre of player you are playing week-in, week-out down there,'' O'Driscoll said.
"That is an exciting prospect. But whether all the pieces fit, I don't know. At this moment in time, probably not but 'Cheiks' has my number, so if he wants to give me a call, he knows how to get me.''
In an extensive interview, O'Driscoll opened up on why he thinks Cheika will be a success at the Waratahs; the growing hype and confidence about the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, and reflected on the Lions tour of 2001 - and why the northerners will expect another feisty tour match against NSW.
WARATAHS MOVE
As an attacking centre, O'Driscoll has eyed Super Rugby for years and went as far as making "minor inquries'' last year about making it happen.
"Just before the World Cup I thought about the possibility of last year maybe taking a little bit of downtime after the World Cup, and playing a year of Super Rugby,'' O'Driscoll said.
"The three best teams in the world make up the Super 15, and you look at the individuals and you look at the calibre of sides and the quality of Super Rugby and the intensity of it, obviously it is a hugely high standard.
With his actress wife Amy Huberman filming TV shows in London, however, O'Driscoll re-signed with Leinster until mid-2013. The 33-year-old said "my time might have passed on that front but I definitely a never say never sort of person.''
"I am contracted only to June, so whether I play on for another year after that, the body will be able to tell me later on this year,'' he said.
Having seen the huge promotional success of Del Pierro and Emile Heskey for the A-League the Waratahs would be mad not to pursue O'Driscoll to help lift rugby's flagging profile in NSW.
Cheika was cagey on the possibility but said his former charge would be a success in Super Rugby.
"O'Driscoll is a class act both on and off the field and I'm sure we'll see that class from him during the Lions tour next year,'' he told
The Daily Telegraph via email from Paris.
"Brian is a Leinster man through and through. Sydney is a long way from Dublin, so I'd say the only chance of him playing Super Rugby is if we kidnap him during our tour match against the Lions next June.
"I will say though he is one northern hemisphere player who I am sure would be able to be a dominant figure in the southern hemisphere tournament.''
Michael Cheika
Brian O'Driscoll rates new NSW Waratahs coach Michael Cheika highly. Picture: Gregg Porteous
Source: The Daily Telegraph
COACH CHEIKA
O'Driscoll played under Cheika at Leinster from 2005 to 2009, and credits him with a "massive role in instigating the rise of Leinster Rugby''.
The underperforming province won its first Heineken Cup in 2008-09, and though Cheika had left, won another in May this year.
"He put a huge amount of structures in place and I would think structure at the Waratahs is probably pretty good anyway, but he will tweak things the way he has done in the past with ourselves. He is a very effective coach if he gets the right people around him, as well. I think he'll do a great job."
Cheika is an extremely effective communicator, said O'Driscoll. "One thing I would say about him, which I think is one of his strengths, is that I never bored of any team talk that he gave the side. That's a huge strength.
"It is difficult when you are with a team for five years, to try and come up with new material. But in fairness to him it was always insightful and targeted in the right way.''
2013 LIONS TOUR
O'Driscoll has been identified as one of the leading candidates to captain the British and Irish Lions on tour here next year - his fourth Lions tour.
A superstitious type, O'Driscoll doesn't like discussing his personal chances - "it's eight months away, that's an eternity in rugby'' - but says the hype is already huge.
"Things are so different from 12 years ago, when you look at the likes of things like social networking and Twitter. The Lions people have been a big push recently of trying to build that hype,'' he said.
Australia's recent results and the improvements of the northern hemisphere sides has given Lions fans plenty of confidence the north-south gap is now closed, but O'Driscoll is wary of writing off the Wallabies.
"Wales lost three zip in the Test series but all three games were very close. So you add in the best of England, Scotland and Ireland on top of that, and you could say it is a fairly mouth-watering prospect what the Test series is going to turn up,'' he said.
"But Australia have a great ability of building themselves up for big moments. They'd be slightly disappointed from the last World Cup, but that's pretty unusual for them.
"They mightn't be at their very best at the moment but Robbie Deans will have them ready to go for a big, big tour next summer.''
2001 LIONS TOUR
Outside the Test series, one of the big matches in the Lions 10-match tour will be the clash with the Waratahs on June 15; one week out from the first Test in Brisbane.
The infamous clash between NSW and the Lions remains "a standout memory'' from the 2001 tour, said O'Driscoll, who was part of a Test-strength Lions line-up.
The match was bitterly fought; quite literally. Five yellow cards were handed out, and Duncan McRae got red-carded for assaulting Ronan O'Gara on the ground with a flurry of unanswered punches.
"If the memories of the last one is anything to go by, it will certainly be interesting,'' O'Driscoll said. "We certainly didn't have it easy. They set their stall out early, and the referee, his cards were hot that night.''
Graham Henry said recently in his autobiography Australia's provinces set out to bash the Lions in 2001, and slammed Australian sportsmanship.
O'Driscoll stopped short of endorsing that view, but said the Lions will expect a similarly brutal clash with NSW in 2013.
"There was definitely something more than just a competitive game of rugby, particularly in that NSW match,'' he said.
"There was no doubt they were out to send a message out. I'm not necessarily saying rough up but they went out with a physical purpose about them, which as the referee's number of cards indicated, was stepping over the line on a few occasions,
"I wouldn't imagine when the Lions go to play the Waratahs next year, they'll be thinking that it will be a nice, friendly match. I am sure they'll be expecting the worst.''
DUNCAN MCRAE
O'Driscoll said McRae's bashing of O'Gara was "one of those horrible situations'' that left regret on both sides, with his Irish mate missing a Test berth a week later due to his injury and McRae being labelled a thug.
"But I will say that I did laugh to myself the following year (in 2002) when McRae was with Gloucester, and they went to play Munster (O'Gara's team) in Thomond Park,'' O'Driscoll said.
"The final whistle had barely touched the referee's lips and Duncan McRae, I have never seen a man run off the pitch so quickly. It was probably in his best interests because they're fairly tribal down there. I wouldn't say there were a huge amount of autographs that day.''
KIWI LIONS
Warren Gatland's appointment as Lions coach is a good one, feels O'Driscoll, particularly after his experience as an assistant in South Africa in 2009.
"Warren likes teams to go out and play. Wales have pretty much the belief and the mindset to go out and play heads-up rugby,'' he said.
The last Kiwi to lead the Lions was Henry in 2001, whose style led to a divided squad; some like Austin Healey and Matt Dawson even openly critical.
"From Graham's point of view, looking back on that tour, 11 years ago now professionalism was only six years old at that stage and it is such a vastly different game in every dimension now,'' O'Driscoll said.
"We trained crazy hours on that tour, when you look back. Double-pitch sessions a lot of days, and you could be out there for two hours a pop. All of that has changed and there is a realisation you have to try and keep intensity in training, but time on feet needs to be tapered off towards the end of the week.''
WALLABIES SPRING TOUR
The wounded Wallabies will play England and Wales on their Spring Tour next month, and a victory or two could help the Lions rub more of the aura away from Australia prior to their tour.
O'Driscoll agrees, but only in part.
"I think what it would do for those individuals that found themselves on the tour, they'd know what its like to beat Australia,'' he said.
"I don't think you can read in too much, because November is a good distance to June and July.''
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Brian O’Driscoll is an ambassador for HSBC. HSBC is the Principal Partner for the British & Irish Lions Tour to Australia 2013. 
