About Brian
Brian Gerard O'Driscoll (born 21-01-1979) is the current Ireland captain and plays at number 13 on both sides.
Brian was born in Dublin and grew up in Clontarf with his parents and sisters. He attended Belgrove National School in Clontarf playing football, soccer, tennis and golf, much in nearby St. Anne Park.
Brian played his first rugby match at 11 years of age for Willow Park where he finished his primary education before moving on to Blackrock College where he developed a passionate interest in the game of rugby. He gained international recognition for the first time in 1996 gaining 3 caps for Irish schools. He attended UCD on a sports scholarship progressing from the college under 20's team to the senior team in his first year under the direction of John McLean.
He was then a member of the Irish team that won the IRB under 19 World Cup in France in 1998 with current internationals Paddy Wallace and Donnacha O'Callaghan as team mates. Brian graduated from UCD with a diploma in Sports Management. He got 3 under 21 Irish caps in 1999. Selected for the senior Irish squad in April 1999 against Italy, he remained on the bench. He was then selected for the summer tour to Australia and made his debut winning his first cap at the age of 20 on 12th June 1999 in Brisbane, Ireland losing 46-10. He played in the Rugby world cup that year.
In 2003, following the international retirement of Ireland captain Keith Wood, Brian was awarded the Irish captaincy. O' Driscoll then led Ireland to a second-place finish in the Six Nations, and in the process, a Triple Crown.
In 2001 Brian was selected for the British and Irish Lions Tour to Australia, appearing in all 3 tests.
In 2005, O' Driscoll became Ireland's first Lions captain since Ciaran Fitzgerald in 1983 and was selected to lead the Lions on the tour to New Zealand. Unfortunately, it was a short lived tour with his shoulder being dislocated during the opening minutes of the first Test against the All Blacks in Christchurch on 25 June 2005. He remained as non-playing captain on a losing tour and underwent surgery upon his return to Dublin. He returned to full fitness to lead Ireland to two more Triple Crown triumphs in 2006 and 2007, and was named as the RBS Player of the Six Nations in both years.
In September 2005 Brian signed with the IRFU to stay at Leinster through the 2007 World Cup.
An ever proud Irish man, he then signed a new contract with the IRFU that will keep him playing at Leinster until 2011.
In January 2006, Brian helped Leinster beat Bath to qualify for the quarter-finals of the 2005-6 Heineken Cup. On the 1st of April 2006, Leinster beat Toulouse reaching the Heineken Cup semi-final.
In 2007 Ireland enjoyed a great 6 nations eventually losing out to France on the Championship by a single score. He exceeded Keith Wood's captaincy record of 36 Tests when Ireland defeated Italy in their last game of the 2007 Six Nations and he is currently Irish top try scorer with 31 tries.
Brian lead the Irish Team in the R.W.C 2007 and the Irish Team in the 2008 Six Nations Rugby Tournament. He was the captain of the Leinster Team who were overall winners of the 2007/2008 Celtic League. He is currently in pre-season training for the up and coming games in Autumn 2008.
