Lord of the Dance
O’Driscoll wants final Lions tour
Sport

O’Driscoll wants final Lions tour

BRIAN O'DRISCOLL has revealed that he would "love to go" on this summer’s Lions tour to Australia.

The veteran Irish centre, who has 131 international caps, is the only player to have started matches in all three of the previous Lions tours.

In an interview with Sport, O’Driscoll said that he would relish the opportunity to make the trip and underlined his motivations would be purely to do with rugby.

He said: “I’ve done a few of these tours now; they’re great fun and all, but I’m done with the fun thing. I just want to be successful, play some good rugby and be part of something special that people will remember.

“Of course I’d love to go, but I wouldn’t want to go and not win the series,” added O’Driscoll, who captained the Lions’ tour of New Zealand in 2005 and would be the fans’ choice to do so again this year.

The Leinster player went on to admit he felt strange losing the international captaincy to Jamie Heaslip for this year’s Six Nations.

“I found myself going out of the dressing room for the Wales game and I thought: ‘Where do I go out here?’ The last time I hadn’t captained Ireland was the World Cup in 2003 and I found myself wondering where to line up for the anthems. Not having to look after the mascots.

“It was quite strange – but you just get on with it. I was never one for superstition,” said O’Driscoll.