Is Brian O’Driscoll back to his best?

 
The Crowd Roar Guru

By Frank O'Keeffe, 23 Mar 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Guru

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With Ireland claiming only their second Grand Slam in their history, their victory begs the question: who will be remembered as the best Irish players of this Grand Slam side?

In 1948 the star players were the legendary Jack Kyle, Karl Mullen and Mick O’Flanagan.

In 2009 there is only one Irish player I can think of that constantly stood out as Ireland’s match winner: Brian O’Driscoll.

This begs the question: is Brian O’Driscoll back to his best?

It goes without saying that Brian O’Driscoll has been harshly criticized in the past few seasons.

It’s been well documented that Conrad Smith quickly got the better of him in New Zealand last year.

In the 2008 Six Nations O’Driscoll went missing and Ireland performed below expectations at times.

But in this year’s Six Nations O’Driscoll has been invaluable to Ireland winning games.

After the game against England, in which both sides played some poor, poor rugby, I said: “Brian O’Driscoll didn’t produce a vintage performance that he could ala 2001. He didn’t pry open defences with a change of pace, a magical step or by running great angles. But what he did do was stand up and do what had to be done. When a try was needed he performed the duty of a backrower and drove himself over the line. When O’Gara had gone to water, he slotted a drop-goal. When things went to hell for Ireland, he was there to do what was needed to win.”

My opinion is that Brian O’Driscoll isn’t quite the player he was in his prime, but he’s just as valuable.

This view is primarily based on the strong impression O’Driscoll had on me as I recently revisited the tremendous Lions series of 2001.

In short, there was nothing O’Driscoll didn’t have in that series.

If you watch the first Test you’ll see him unlocking the Australian defence – then widely regarded as the world’s finest defensive side – on many, many occasions.

I recall in the 34th minute of the 1st Test how Rob Howley darted down the blind side and offloaded to Brian O’Driscoll, whose magical footwork unlocked the Aussie defence, leaving Owen Finnegan struggle to tackle him in cover defence. Jason Robinson appeared on the outside and O’Driscoll offloaded to him for a simple try.

Just after the halftime break O’Driscoll surpassed his first half effort when he stepped, unexpectedly past Nathan Grey before sweeping past Jeremy Paul. With O’Driscoll running towards the fullback, Matt Burke, and with support on the outside, I think everybody expected him to pass the ball. O’Driscoll dipped his right shoulder, indicating to Burke that he’d pass the ball to his right, before jagging back to his left and sprinting his way to the line, leaving Joe Roff with the unenviable task of trying to catch him.

In the 2nd Test of that series O’Driscoll mounted a tremendous counter-attack when he chipped ahead, sprinted at full pace about 20 metres, and out-jumped George Gregan to take a tremendous up-and-under. From the following ruck, Wilkinson kicked to the corner of the field, forcing Andrew Walker to run the ball out, which set up a line-out for the Lions, from which they scored off a rolling maul.

O’Driscoll clearly marked himself as the standout back of that tour.

I literally couldn’t fault him at the time. His changes of pace were subtle and effective. His footwork was mesmeric. I could look at him as a centre and say, “There’s nothing he doesn’t have.”

He was simply tremendous when he toured with the Lions in 2001.

However, despite my opinion that O’Driscoll isn’t quite as good as he was in 2001, he is arguably as valuable as he’s ever been and in that sense he’s beginning to remind me of Tana Umaga (golly that comment will anger some New Zealanders).

As Umaga began to lose some of his pace, he arguably became more important to New Zealand. He was more important because of his captaincy, his defence at #13 (the most difficult position to read the opposition’s attack from), and his ability to be that extra link-man.

O’Driscoll has found a way to be effective and invaluable despite not possessing some of his earlier traits.

O’Driscoll may not have the pace and footwork he did in 2001. But in terms of having a big match temperament, I think he is comparable to England’s Rob Andrew.

Whatever criticisms the Australian public may have of Andrew (which generally focus upon the amount of times he kicked the ball), when England were in a tight situation, you’d trust him to do the responsible percentage thing to do.

Against England I thought O’Driscoll was the only played who truly stood up to the pressure of a close game.

Against Wales he again performed the duty of a back rower and drove himself over the line. Without doing anything flashy or spectacular, O’Driscoll won Ireland games by doing what had to be done.

I think it’s a mark of a great player that O’Driscoll is finding ways to adapt and be useful despite not possessing all his trademark talents.

His capacity to read close games and his big match temperament make him an ideal captain for the 2009 British Lions.

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