Brian O’Driscoll: Press Conference Quotes

See below for quotes from Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll from Tuesday’s team announcement press conference in Killiney.

ON SUSTAINING A KNOCK TO HIS RECONSTRUCTED SHOULDER AGAINST SCOTLAND:

“At the time I wasn’t sure, I thought I might have dislocated it again, but the pain subsided and that was the difference in feeling from the first time.

“I think I probably owe a huge amount to the specialist Jimmy Colville, who did the surgery, because I think it has come back stronger than it was beforehand.”

ON PAUL O’CONNELL:

“Obviously, the loss of Paul O’Connell will be severely felt and especially his leadership qualities. Like us all, he made a few mistakes at Murrayfield but his ball-carrying was tremendous and he made at least one vital turnover in the tackle. And he was one of those who stood up when we had our backs to the wall.”

ON THE ITALIAN TEAM:

“Alessandro Troncon has come back in at scrum half and given Italy a certain stability. He has the experience that perhaps Paul Griffen didn’t have and knows how to boss games. Their two fly-halves have both played well in the Six Nations.

“But they’re not without their frailties and there are opportunities for us to have a go at them. Their weaknesses are not just down the 10 channel or Troncon’s lack of speed – there are other angles.

“But we must put our opportunities away if we’re to make the most of them – which is what we didn’t do against Scotland.”

ON THE APPROACH TO SATURDAY’S GAME:

“First and foremost we want to win the game, but we’re facing a very tough Italian side who are playing with a lot of confidence. They have two wins on the bounce and they’ll be looking to make it their most successful Six Nations campaign ever.

“We’ll have a tough day at the office if we don’t cut out the errors and indiscipline that haunted us against Scotland and even threatened to take the game away from us.

“We have to get back to what we do best and that’s playing good, hard, running rugby. We probably need to be more direct against Italy because of their defensive system.”

ON MICK O’DRISCOLL’S INCLUSION:

“Mick O’Driscoll has been around the squad for a long time now. He’s 28 years-old and has plenty of experience. He will fit in perfectly well as he’s another Munster man in the pack.”