“Next thing, all I see is this ‘BANG’ coming in over me… It was O’Driscoll”

Patrick McCarry

“He was going to mind you if he thought you were in the right.”

Brian O’Driscoll to the rescue, and Sean O’Brien forever grateful.

The over-eager flanker coming up against the veteran. Thousands upon thousands of training ground brawls have included those spicy ingredients.

Over on House of Rugby UK, this week, Alex Payne helped set the scene for another raft of big Guinness Six Nations fixtures by chatting with Sean O’Brien and James Haskell.

Former rivals whenever Ireland and England clashed, Haskell and O’Brien bonded after one Six Nations encounter and sealed that bond on the 2017 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand.

During the pair’s appearance on the show, their recollections on what they bought with their first professional rugby pay-cheques summed up their difference in characters. Haskell picked up some new speakers for his souped-up Vauxhall while O’Brien got himself a new Massey Ferguson tractor.

"Rule number one, don't go to Bristol!"@jameshaskell and @seanobrien1987 both reveal what they spent their first professional paycheques on 🤑 pic.twitter.com/0fqUFxaTRs

— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) February 20, 2020

O’Brien says Leinster put a lot of faith in him, when he first entered their academy system, as he was from a club rugby background and not from the highly polished schools system. Still, he showed enough talent and potential for Leinster to give him a run.

He made his senior debut in September 2008 but trained with the senior team in both the 2005/06 and 2006/07 seasons. O’Brie recalled one training session in which Leinster captain Brian O’Driscoll came to his rescue when former Ireland & Lions No.8 Eric Miller took exception to his over-eagerness at the breakdown.

“One of my first sessions with Brian, it must have been the following year. I remember an incident with Eric Miller. Like, I was [keen as] mustard as a young fella; getting in over balls and trying to poach.

“Eric starts shoeing me [at the ruck] really badly one day. Next thing, all I see is this ‘BANG’ coming in over me and over the top. It was O’Driscoll. He absolutely smashed him and he was down on top when he said, ‘You’re a disgrace. You can’t be doing that!’

“I knew then that it didn’t matter to him who you were, at that stage, he was going to mind you if he thought you were in the right.

“Those sort of things were great to have around you, in that environment, especially as a young fella coming in.”

Sean O’Brien and Brian O’Driscoll would go on to play seven seasons together and represent Leinster, Ireland and the Lions. The Tullow native clearly never forgot the Ireland legend having his back out on the back pitches behind the David Lloyd Gym at Riverview.

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Barry Murphy, Andrew Trimble and Jerry Flannery are joined by Leinster & Wallabies star Scott Fardy and former Ireland Women’s captain Fiona Coghlan as House of Rugby goes live to preview some big Guinness Six Nations matches.