ON A DAY which marked Leinster’s second last pre-match media duties at Riverview, Brian O’Driscoll had to wade through a huddled mass on his way to the top table.
You know it’s a big game when O’Driscoll is around.
Most of the season, the small room where Leinster hold court on a weekly basis could provide at least two chairs to every journalist.
Yesterday, it was standing room only and with the rattle and flash of cameras trying to catch the moment, Drico was a relatively relaxed figure.
He’s been here before, of course. The pre-match hype, the build-up, the favourites tag, he can bat those inquiries away at will. He probably could have played against Glasgow, but that wasn’t the Heineken Cup final. A week when, he says, “you pull out all the stops”.
One of those stops he attempted to pull was calling some attention to Chris Henry’s borderline-legal work at the breakdown and ensuring to compliment referee Nigel Owen.
“Like all referees,” the centre said after being asked about Ruan Pienaar, “they try and put a stamp on the game early on. Particularly in the first 10 – 15 minutes we’ll have to be aware what we’re doing defensively and in attack.
“I think certain aspect to referees have been targetted; sealing off from an attacking point of view and players not rolling away. We’ll analyse Nigel as much as we possibly can in the build up and try and play a fast open game the way I know he likes the game to be reffed.”
Butter would not melt. O’Driscoll plays the star pupil well, you would swear he was not one of the most cunning breakdown tacticians himself. It’s been one of the more inventive proposals, but the suggestion that he transform to become an openside flanker was never completely without merit.
Every good seven is after the same thing in defence, and that is the exactly the opposite of how Leinster want the game to unfold when they are in possession. O’Driscoll is obviously in no doubt that Ulster possess a good seven:
“Chris Henry is probably one of their most important players. He upsets a lot of teams, he slows ball down and gets away with it, and really just pushes things to the letter of the law.
“Sometimes he gets caught out, as he did in the quarter final, but more often than not he does a great job for them. It’s important that we identify that he is a big strength and try and nullify him.”
The first shell of the battle has been launched, as you would expect from O’Driscoll it was with class and (thinly) veiled, but it signalled the beginning of hostilities none-the-less.
The 33-year-old is one try away from equalling Vincent Clerc’s record haul in the Heineken Cup, but you won’t catch him daydreaming about that. Wondering onto the topic of Henry and the referee was no accident, O’Driscoll is careful and calculating. Every step he takes this week will be a step towards winning on Saturday evening.
Daydreaming
Naturally enough, his star power dominated proceedings at Riverview. Poor Jono Gibbes was almost ignored as O’Driscoll answered question after question generously. However, the centre’s sharpest retort of the day would come when asked about ‘a great moment of history’ should he lift the European Cup for a third time.
“We haven’t won anything yet,” said BOD forcefully, “I’m a big believer in thinking of the process and not of the prize. All you can do, all you’re in control off is to train well this week and hopefully play well at the weekend and let the result take care of itself.
“You get caught up in thinking – yeah, I have found myself daydreaming a little bit and thinking how great it would be to win three from four – that doesn’t nothing for you. That’s not gonna win it for you, you just have to think about the job at hand and each moment in the game and your involvement. If we’re all collectively thinking that way then hopefully we’ll be there towards the end of the game.”
