O'Driscoll taking milestone rugby match in his stride
Brian O'Driscoll insisted there was "nothing really different" on the eve of his 100th cap for Ireland.
Saturday's Six Nations match against Wales here at Croke Park will see the Ireland captain become only the second player to make a century of Test appearances for the country, following on from prop John Hayes who reached the milestone in the 20-16 victory away to England last time out.
"For the moment I'm just treating it as another week and enjoying it," O'Driscoll told reporters at a news conference here Friday.
"Sure it's nice getting a lot of text messages coming in from past players and coaches. It's lovely from that point of view," the gifted centre added.
"But I don't see any reason to get caught up in the hype of it all," said the 31-year-old who this weekend will captain Ireland for the 63rd time.
"Someone said to me '101 Test matches is more impressive than a hundred'. So maybe John Hayes should be the one that's up here (talking to the media)."
O'Driscoll has repeatedly put his body on the line in Ireland's cause. Only a fortnight ago, against England, he appeared to be knocked out cold after his head accidentally hit the knee of Ireland team-mate Paul O'Connell.
"When you are a professional athlete, there's always the fear you could have an injury that puts an end to your career or you can't evolve with the game or other people come in who are better than you to replace you," O'Driscoll said.
"I didn't set a target in 1999 that I wanted to achieve 100 Test matches.
"A few years ago I thought it would be really nice to make a hundred.
"But I haven't gone 'I want to achieve 120', I'm just going game by game and really enjoying it still."
Ireland coach Declan Kidney said it was difficult to assess O'Driscoll's contribution to Irish rugby.
"I'd probably do it a disservice," Kidney said. "He's imparted his own knowledge as he's getting older to some of the younger fellas and that's a generosity that isn't always seen on top of his performances."
Defeat by France ended Ireland's hopes of consecutive Grand Slams. But after bouncing back at Twickenham, a successful Six Nations title defence is still in Irish sights.
However, O'Driscoll said: "There's still a hell of a lot of work to do."
Wales have played some thrilling rugby this Six Nations but they've won just once, against Scotland.
"They've produced some scintillating parts to their game and they'll feel they will have a big performance left in them," O'Driscoll said.
"Even a 'weak' Welsh side in my eyes is never really weak."
And Kidney added he did not expect Wales to play more 'conservatively' this weekend. "The first ball they get, if it's a good ball, they will come at us like they always do," Kidney said.
"In golfing parlance, there's a few balls that have rimmed out of the hole in the last match or two. But some days they could all go down and have a very tidy round.
"We are just hoping that's not against us."
Ireland have won eight out of 12 Tests, with three defeats, including one to Wales, and a draw at Croke Park.
But their concluding Six Nations match, against Scotland on March 20, will be Ireland's last at 'Croker', before they go back across Dublin to Lansdowne Road, their traditional home, which has been redeveloped.
"It would be nice to finish on a high (at Croke Park) but that's up to us," Kidney said.
Saturday's match kicks-off at 2.30pm (1430GMT) local time but Kidney said: "The five o'clock (1700GMT) always seems to suit the Irish that little bit better. Everybody seems to be 'warmed up' a little bit more before the match."
"Hopefully people will have an early start tomorrow (Saturday) morning," Kidney added to a chorus of laughter from reporters.
"Please God, they'll row in behind us because I think we are going to need that '16th person'."
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