When Brian O’Driscoll speaks, you listen.
Not content with being the greatest rugby player Ireland has ever produces, Brian O’Driscoll has turned into one of the most astute analysts of the game in his post-rugby career.
And as Rugby World Cup fever takes hold in the country, what better message than an optimistic message from BOD himself.
Speaking on BT Sport, O’Driscoll says the ambition of the players is not to just reach a semi-final, they will believe that can go all the way to the final at Twickenham on October 31 and if and when they do “all bets are off”.
“There’s a sense in the country that maybe this is the time,” O’Driscoll says. “Having worked with Joe Schmidt for five or six years at the end of my career I understand what he brings – the organisation the discipline, the confidence he instils in the team, the specific game plans.
“I feel the timing is right with him and the age profile and the experience of the team, Ireland will never have a better chance at doing something they’ve never done by getting to a World Cup semi-final minimum.
“Do the Irish public think that that’s a success?  I know that the players don’t think that getting to a semi-final is a success. They want to go and get themselves into a World Cup final and if they do then all bets are off.”
