The only way England can go now is down – Brian O’Driscoll

“Hopefully we can give the prawn sandwich brigade at Twickenham something to choke on.” was Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll’s hope ahead of the clash with England at Twickenham. The star centre was speaking in his column on www.bbc.co.uk in which he went on to talk about media intrusion, and his favourite soccer team, Manchester United.

“There is one thing for sure and that is Ireland do not need much encouragement for Saturday’s game. Just mention England, and that’s all the motivation you need.

“For a start, we are not expected to win on Saturday so it would be nice to be the first team to beat the current world champions. But irrespective that, they won the World Cup, for an Irishman going over to Twickenham is enough to get the old blood running hot.

“It happens every two years. Is there anything better for our fans than to beat England on English soil? I don’t think so.

“Hopefully we can give the prawn sandwich brigade at Twickenham something to choke on.

“There will be a tremendous atmosphere. There will be 80,000 people there, so really that’s what you play the game for.
But we are going to have to give it everything we have. No holding back as we have sometimes done in the past.

“The best thing from our point of view is that England are the ones under pressure. After all, they are the world champions playing their first competitive game back at Twickenham. That’s what I call pressure. So this could be our big opportunity to take them.

“The only way England can go now is down. Obviously they will want to defend their number one status for as long as possible, and they have a tremendous record at Twickenham.
So hopefully we will go out there and do something different this time. The last two occasions we didn’t even turn up.

“I have to say that there is a great air of calmness in the camp. We had two very tough days knocking hell’s bells out of each other, and now everybody is relaxing before the big build-up.

“Naturally I’m getting a bit of stick about my hair but it’s beginning to wane. I think everybody in the team is bored with themselves giving me grief as I just ignore them anyway.

“There has been a lot of rubbish lately in the media about myself and you do get fed up with it all. I have to laugh at the comparisons between my girlfriend Glenda and myself to Posh and Becks. Half the time I don’t even know what I’m saying, so I don’t pay too much attention to it all.

“However, I do get irritated when I have been completely misquoted, which is becoming a regular occurrence.
They write stuff just to sell newspapers so I have had my cards marked on who to talk to and who not to talk to.

“Despite what they say, I don’t have a celebrity lifestyle. I am just a normal young guy going out like everyone else.
I have to laugh at the comparisons between girlfriend Glenda and myself to Posh and Becks.
For a start Glenda is a lot better than Posh, and I have a long way to go to match Becks.

“Don’t forget as a Manchester United fan Beckham was always one of my heroes. The great thing about him is that he can match all his publicity.
He’s a great player, and has a superb attitude on the pitch.
The papers were dying for him to fail at Real Madrid, and the fact that has made life a success in Spain is a credit to him.

“Talking about United, Arsenal may look out of reach, but they haven’t lost yet, and once they do, it could be fatal – hopefully.