Brian O'Driscoll goes viral for amazing act of kindness at airport

Christine Wilson posted on Twitter: "Yesterday (Thursday), my mother travelled back to Ireland from the UK, where she'd visited friends and family for the first time since she lost the love of her life to cancer.

"His first anniversary is this month. She was tired and emotionally fragile at the airport.

"Memories of holidays they took came back to her - holidays together that won't happen again.

"She was struggling with her bags on the steps out to the tarmac, and missing the person she called 'her big strong man' to help her.

"She was getting tearful, and it was then that someone she described as 'a very handsome man' offered to carry her bag, and even took it on to the plane for her.

"She said he was kind and helpful, which was just what she needed at that point.

"So a huge thank you from me to Brian O'Driscoll - not only did you help out my lovely mam when she was feeling helpless and lost, but as she's been a huge fan of yours for as long as I remember, to meet you and find you to be kind and generous gave her a real lift. Thank you."

O'DRISCOLL SAID: "To get to see in close quarters what he was capable of. You see so much on a Saturday, but when you’re training and playing and watching players of that calibre leading up to a Saturday. You see some exceptional stuff that cameras don’t always catch.

“Jason, I knew so little of him in 2001 other than his rugby league talent. But to have a full appreciation of what his footwork was like, you need to defend against it, and it was horrible at times in training.

“I would’ve analysed him a lot as I played against him, he was equally comfortable on either foot, it made no difference to him. There was no preference on ball carry, you just could not work him out. He honed the ability to be unpredictable as well.

“He might’ve been a small guy, but he packed a serious punch too.”

Nicknamed The Snake because of his ability to slither through the smallest of gaps and strike with a sudden burst of speed. Brought fluidity to the All Blacks midfield with his intelligent passing and vision.

Brian O'Driscoll SAID: “I thought Conrad Smith was always one of the really difficult ones. He was nicknamed ‘Snake’ I think because of his hips and it doesn’t look like he’s going that fast but jeez, he can travel."

The ultimate players’ player. Did all the unseen, grafting work and just got on with his job in unassuming fashion, putting his body on the line. Able to excel right across the back row, he was a pivotal figure on two Lions trips and an England World Cup winner.

Brian O'Driscoll SAID: "Richard Hill, England No.6 that won the World Cup in 2003. He was a brilliant teammate but he made that team tick, he was the unsung hero in that world cup win. He was hard! I always liked playing with guys that were nails in the team, that really stood up and never took a backwards step."

The 73-cap France international was a member of the Toulouse team that reached the Heineken Cup final in 2003, 2004 and 2005, winning in 2003 and 2005. The centre was named as the man of the match in the 2005 Heineken Cup Final as Toulouse defeated Stade Français. 

Brian O'Driscoll SAID: "Jauzion was just incredible and was so hard to stop, with his offloading ability. France built so much off and around him. 6-foot-4 and probably 17-stone."

WIlkinson garnered 1,246 during his 97 caps for England and the Lions. His finest hour, of course, came in 2003, when he slotted the drop goal that won the World Cup.

Brian O'Driscoll SAID: “Even to just get a snapshot of what his mind works like now and how he thinks about things is pretty eye-opening as to what sort of detail he went into as a player,”

“He’s an out-and-out perfectionist, he just needs that 10 out of 10. I don’t think you ever achieve it and I think he beats himself up about it, but he got pretty close to 10 a lot of times.”