WITHIN SECONDS OF the final whistle of Ireland’s 60 – 0 drubbing at the hands of New Zealand, Brian O’Driscoll had to give his thoughts to the world.
“You look at that scoreline and the way the game turned out, it was embarrassing.” Said the Ireland captain, fronting up and echoing the sentiment of many fans watching on in horror.
After losing by a late Dan Carter drop goal last week, Ireland expected to once-again show their worth by running the World Champions close, but ended up falling to a record losing margin against the world’s number one team.
“We knew we had to start well and we didn’t.” O’Driscoll added, “That’s just what All Blacks do: to be 21 points down before 20 minutes, we were always going to be chasing.”
“When you’ve three tests matches in a row a lot of the work is done off the field and it’s important to keep guys fresh.“It’s more difficult tackling than running with the ball and we made a hell of a lot of tackles today.
The 33-year-old may never get another chance to break Ireland’s 107 year winless record against New Zealand, and with the next tour to the Land of the Long White Cloud over a decade away he had to underline to the on-field interview that he will not be back.
“I won’t be down in New Zealand playing again because I won’t be around in 12 years, but if Queenstown’s calling then I might be down for a Fergburger again.”
His last comment, an attempt at gallows humour. But there was no hint of a smile on his face as he walked away.
