Former Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll has revealed what was the most stressful aspect of leading the Ireland team during his career.
O'Driscoll is regarded as one of the greatest centres in the sport. The Dubliner captained the Irish national team and played a key role in their successes, including winning the Six Nations Championship three times and the Grand Slam in 2009 during his fifteen-year career.
It always appeared that O'Driscoll took being Ireland captain in his stride, but the former Ireland centre admitted on a podcast this week that motivating players during his captaincy was one of the most stressful aspects of his Ireland tenure. He added that trying to do so kept him up at night.
"Whatever about events or dinners, talking to teammates," said the podcast The Bookshelf with Ryan Tubridy this week.
Brian O'Driscoll during Ireland's Six Nations game (Getty Images)"We used to have the captain’s meeting the night before a test match. I can’t tell you the amount of sleep I lost trying to come up with ten minutes of conversational chat for my peers.
"It was about motivating them about what we were going to do the following day... this was my thoughts they were waiting to hear. Some of the hardest parts of the captaincy."
The 45-year-old confessed to Tubridy that coming out of his comfort zone was key. It was a very different feeling from playing, but it helped nonetheless.
"You find a way; navigate a path that works for you. Have the odd person talk on my behalf and write my points on an A5 page beside me so all the eyeballs were off me and on the notes," he added.
"You’re out of your comfort zone. I’m happy to do that on the field; that was a natural instinct to go follow me. In this contrived environment, you’re like, 'Oh my goodness, this feels alien.'"
The full podcast can be heard here.
