If you can stop the Tank, you earn his respect.
Sean O’Brien is a man that enjoys a good tackle. One of the sure signs he was back in action, following his extended spell on the sidelines, came when he started sitting England Saxons down in the green of the Ireland Wolfhounds.
A hamstring tweak spared the Italians his fury but his ruck clear-out of two Frenchmen, at the Aviva Stadium last weekend, felt good. For the flanker and for the nation. The clip went viral and is one of the tournament’s most popular YouTube videos.
O’Brien says, ‘I’ve seen the video alright. Hard not to. There were lots of rucks that I didn’t clear out well in that game.
‘That’s what I thought most about after, that I missed a few barrels. I was rusty, like. I missed a couple of tackles and stuff. Things like that. Hopefully that’ll be better next week [against England].’
Making the hits, carries, clear-outs. O’Brien feels at home again; comfortable in his skin. As he told us in early February, he is back in the heel of the hunt.
He has played more than 120 times for province and country, since his 2008 debut, yet can still recall the biggest tackle he ever shipped.
O’Brien says, ‘Yer man, Jacques Burger, the lad at Saracens. That [Heineken Cup] game over there, in 2010. It was off a five-man lineout and Johnny just said, “Crash this up.” I did but I ran into him.
‘I remember thinking that every bit of air had come out of me. I went up and went on but I wasn’t going too far. That’s probably the biggest hit I’ve ever had. We met in the middle and the two of us fell down on the ground.’
Try as we might, a clip of the collision has been hard to find. However, to give you an idea of the sheer Namibian hulk that is Jacques Burger, check out this video:
*O’Brien was speaking at the launch of a Bord Bia campaign for Ham and Bacon that will be launched on February 23 and run for a month.
