A Great Day For Irish Rugby – Brian O’Driscoll.
It was an understandably jubilant captain Brian O’Driscoll who was first up to give his reaction to his side’s famous victory over Australia at Lansdowne Road
Speaking after he had played a captain’s role in Ireland’s first win over Ausralia at Lansdowne Road since 1968, O’Driscoll admitted that things “really went for us today through the match overall,” he said.. “Our ability to finish the game strongly gives us a lot of heart going into the Six Nations.”
O’Driscoll believes that the key difference this time came from the Irish attitude.
“Today we decided that we were not going to come out losers. We have come close on a number of occasions and have let it slip by. This time we decided to go as hard as we could for the 80 minutes and see what happened. What happened was we won. We’ve put one over on one of the big three. It is a great day for Irish rugby”
O’Driscoll covered a huge amount of a sodden Lansdowne Road pitch but still was quite happy to admit that his close friend and number 10 was simply “awesome”.
Man of the Match, O’Gara was delighted with his and the overall performance. “This is a great day for the whole team, both players and management alike. The hard work over the last few months has definitely paid off. I was very happy with my own game but this was about a complete team effort. It was brilliant.”
Eddie O’Sullivan was contentment itself when he faced the waiting media.
“This is something very special. It is very much a thing to be savoured, especially since we came so close in New Zealand. It was always going to be the team that weathered the storm best that would survive. The tackling was ferocious and we kept our shape. I am very happy with the players.”