Brian O’Driscoll gave his thoughts on a number of subjects at Tuesday’s team announcement press conference, including dining on mashed potatoes for breakfast!
ON EQUALLING THE IRISH CAPTAINCY RECORD ON SATURDAY:
“I hadn’t really thought about it too much. In fact, I hadn’t really thought about it at all. It’ll be an honour to equal Fester (Keith Wood) but it’s not something that I will dwell on too much.”
ON IRELAND BEING STRONG FAVOURITES AT MURRAYFIELD:
“I think overwhelming (favourites) would be a little strong. Of course we are going to be favourites considering the results we’ve gotten but you have to appreciate the fact – well I do – that on occasions against Scotland, they have turned up wanting to win more than we did.
“Sometimes it’s down to how people feel on the day and how much someone wants it on the day. That will to win can be pretty strong and if you have that in 15 guys, it’s pretty hard to break them down irrespective of whether you are favourites or not.”
ON THE EARLY KICK-OFF (1.30PM) ON SATURDAY:
“You have to eat mashed potatoes for breakfast, which isn’t ideal!
“I think it is a lot harder playing at 1.30pm. Personally, I can’t get to sleep the night before games until I am tired, which can be 1.30am or 2am.
“I like to have a lie-in until 10.30 or 11. It’s gone this time around so I will have to get myself to bed a little bit earlier.
“You’ll be up because you have to get two meals into you before the game and have your walk though, probably about 10.30.
“Everything takes a step back – in terms of time – but it’s the same for both sides. I have played in a handful of internationals at this time before. Playing is still playing so you realise what it is and just get on with it.”
ON SCOTLAND’S DEFEAT TO ITALY:
“They (Scotland) realised that Italy were going to come at them hard and fast. Scotland tried to go around them. I spoke to Chris Paterson last week and he said they knew that Italy were going to be flying up and it was a pre-planned chip over the top in the first few minutes just to keep them honest.
“It just shows that games can hinge on little moments like that. It went from bad to worse for them. I don’t think they will have the same game plan as they did against Italy because our defensive system is different.
“You have got to treat each team, each week differently and I think they’ll do that.”
ON KEEPING THE SCOREBOARD TICKING AND STARTING WELL:
“We gave away a silly early penalty (in the English match) but there were no panic stations. It was just a case of play your way into the game and we managed to do that in chipping away on the scoreboard. We got three, six, nine points and then the try.
“I had spoken during the week about that is how a good side work things. There have been plenty of times when I have seen England do that. They keep the scoreboard ticking over. It was nice to do their sort of job on them.
“All of a sudden you get that try and 16-3 makes a hell of a lot of difference. It was pleasing but there is always room for improvement.
“Ideally we’d love to be the team that scores first. I think the start will be massive in setting the tone at the weekend.
“The team that comes out of the blocks first will get the impetus and games can often hinge on starts – as we know. We’ll have to make sure our start is better than theirs.”
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