British and Irish Lions legend Brian O’Driscoll showed he has no intention of putting his feet up during his final season in professional rugby after turning in a man-of-the-match performance in Leinster’s Heineken Cup win over Northampton Saints.
A calf injury has seen the 34-year-old, a member of the successful Lions team who emerged victorious in Australia this summer, restricted to just one appearance previously for Leinster this season.
But the centre gave a masterclass against the Saints, creating the opening two tries for Luke Fitzgerald – himself a former Lions player on the 2009 tour to South Africa – before also crossing in the second-half.
O’Driscoll was replaced on 72 minutes by Jimmy Gopperth but he had already done enough to earn himself the plaudits in his side’s 40-7 win.
And the Irishman, who finally recorded his first Lions series victory over the summer after three previous attempts, explained he still loves every minute of being on the pitch.
“I had fun, I’ve yet to finish an 80 minutes this season, they’re looking after the old guy,” said O’Driscoll.
“I’m enjoying it, it’s only my second game in blue this season, I love playing for this team.
“We scored a couple of good tries and there was a couple of big performance from the guys
“I got the man of the match which I find amusing when I see the performance of Luke Fitzgerald out there, I thought he was outstanding.
“Besides the three tries I thought the energy was fantastic and there were lots of performances like that.”
