Lions legend Brian O'Driscoll names his five toughest opponents

Tuesday, 06 April 2021 at 14:57

byRugby Rucker

RUCK takes a look at who legendary Ireland and Lions centre Brian O’Driscoll has selected the toughest opponents from his stellar rugby career.

Sourcing several Q&A’s from down the years, including one with the Six Nations website, here are his top five opponents:

DID YOU KNOW? Brian O'Driscoll scored 46 tries for Ireland and 1 try for the Lions in 2001, making him the highest try scorer of all time in Irish Rugby

5. Ma'a Nonu (New Zealand)

Brian O'Driscoll SAID: "Same height as me [5-foot-11] and still 16-stone. Probably the most complete centre in the modern game."

DID YOU KNOW? Nonu became a vegetarian while playing in France for Toulon, citing his son Michael as his motivation

4. Conrad Smith (New Zealand)

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."

DID YOU KNOW? He made his All Blacks debut age 22, versus Italy in 2004, after a meteoric rise which saw him make his professional debut just a season earlier. In 2006

3. Richard Hill (England)

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."

DID YOU KNOW? On his mother's side, Hill is a second cousin removed of film director Peter Jackson

2. Yannick Jauzion (France)

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."

DID YOU KNOW? The centre won three Heineken Cup's with Toulouse

1. Jonny Wilkinson (England)

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.”

DID YOU KNOW? He toured twice with the British & Irish Lions, in 2001 to Australia and 2005 to New Zealand, winning 6 caps