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Published 17:01 20 Feb 2015 GMT
Updated 17:34 20 Feb 2015 GMT
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Making the hits, carries, clear-outs. O'Brien feels at home again; comfortable in his skin. As he told us in early February, he is back in the heel of the hunt.
He has played more than 120 times for province and country, since his 2008 debut, yet can still recall the biggest tackle he ever shipped.
O'Brien says, 'Yer man, Jacques Burger, the lad at Saracens. That [Heineken Cup] game over there, in 2010. It was off a five-man lineout and Johnny just said, “Crash this up.” I did but I ran into him.
'I remember thinking that every bit of air had come out of me. I went up and went on but I wasn't going too far. That's probably the biggest hit I've ever had. We met in the middle and the two of us fell down on the ground.'
Try as we might, a clip of the collision has been hard to find. However, to give you an idea of the sheer Namibian hulk that is Jacques Burger, check out this video:
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