DR FRANK O’DRISCOLL, father of Brian, says the Ireland captain will be back in action within a month.
The younger O’Driscoll underwent surgery on his shoulder in November with a prognosis of six months’ recovery time.
That appears to be ahead of schedule with BOD’s legendary powers of recovery showing little sign of abating.
Speaking to Sean Moncrieff on Newstalk this afternoon, O’Driscoll the elder was asked about the chip off the block:
“He’s like a greyhound in the traps at Shelbourne Park, he’s just mad to go and we’re hoping he’ll be back in three or four weeks.”
That could put the centre back on the rugby field in time for his province’s Pro12 trip to face Munster in Thomond Park on 31 March or even a week earlier when Leinster host the Ospreys in the RDS.
Leinster resume their Heineken Cup defence at home to the Cardiff Blues on 7 April, but the recovering 33-year-old would need at least 60 minutes of game time before featuring in a game of that magnitude.
Heavy hit
O’Driscoll’s last trip to Thomond was in May last year when a heavy, illegal hit from Marcus Horan was thought to aggravate his shoulder problem.
His father’s interview on the afternoon radio program was more focused on his medical profession, but the good doctor did prescribe some advice for Declan Kidney’s Irish squad for this weekend’s trip to Paris.
“We have a side that can beat anyone as long as we play together.” Said Frank O’Driscoll.
“What we have to do against France is stay with them, if we go chasing the game after 10 or 20 minutes we’re done for.”
“If you don’t get parity in the pack and they get a lot of ball to their backs they’ll demoralise you.”
Despite those stark warnings, Dr O’Driscoll had confidence in the squad, despite the obvious missing talisman. When asked if Ireland would suffer a heavy defeat he contended:
“I’m expecting them to do extremely well and with a little bit of luck, you’d never know.”
“If we’re going to lose, we’ll only lose by between three and six points.”
