At under-19 level, Brian was selected for the Ireland squad to play in the 1998 IRB under-19s World Championship in France, under the stewardship of respected coach Mike Ruddock. This tournament would have a profound effect on his career. By Brian’s own admission, there is no comparing the standard of the under-19s with senior rugby, which he says is 100 times better, but the opportunity to play in this tournament provided an important stepping stone and a chance for him to impress in front of some important people. And he was involved in some memorable matches in that tournament.
There was the quarter-final against South Africa, when Ireland were 17–0 down and battled back to make it 17–17. It eventually went to penalty kicks before Ireland won those on a technicality because South Africa had used a player that hadn’t finished the game as one of their five kickers. Ireland had lost the shoot-out 4–3, and Brian had taken one of the penalties and missed. Brian initially thought he had cost his side dear; until the technicality with the South African kicker was noticed, Brian was experiencing his first major low as a rugby player.
In the final, Ireland beat France 18–0 in Toulouse. Certainly, it was a team effort and everyone deserved credit for their remarkable achievement that day, but little did Brian know that he had caught the eye of some highly influential people and he was just a year away from playing for the Ireland senior team. Other notable names playing that day included Donncha O’Callaghan and Paddy Wallace.
Despite making remarkably rapid progress as a rugby player, Brian’s parents were keen for him to gain qualifications as a back-up should something go wrong. His father knew only too well that his gifted son was only one nasty injury or one piece of bad luck away from being unable to play rugby again, and he was keen for him to have something for him to fall back on should this happen.
For this reason, Brian attended University College, Dublin on a scholarship. While at the college, he gained a diploma in sports management, but it was for his progress as a rugby player that his time there will be best remembered. Under Director of Rugby John McLean, he first made the under-20 side, before being promoted to the senior squad at the end of his first year.
Meanwhile, the Ireland squad were undergoing something of a revolution under Kiwi coach Warren Gatland, who was professionalising the entire setup to bring it into step with the modern era, while building a team that would, in time, compete with the world’s very best. This meant breaking in players now who would form part of the Ireland side for the next decade, giving them a chance to know each other as players and as people early in the day.
Brian made his under-21 debut in February 1999, and went on to gain four caps. However, Warren clearly knew he had something very special when, incredibly, he called Brian into his senior squad for the Six Nations match against Italy. This was before he had even made his club debut for Leinster, which would not come until the August of that year. Brian’s job that day was just to keep the bench warm, but he retained his place in the squad for the summer tour of Australia, and, on 12 June 1999, at the age of just 20, he made his senior debut for Ireland against the Wallabies in the first Test in Brisbane.
This match certainly wasn’t Irish rugby’s finest hour, as they crashed to a record 46–10 defeat, with Tiaan Strauss scoring a hat-trick of tries, but Brian certainly made his presence felt on the field that day and helped Ireland claim a fine consolation try when he, along with Connor O’Shea, dragged deep into Australian territory before Kevin Maggs finished off an impressive move.
He was far from the finished article, and still had a lot of growing up to do both in terms of his physique and in the development of his rugby skills, but, by showing what he was made of that day, he sealed his place in the Ireland team for the foreseeable future at least.
On 7 August 1999, Brian finally made his debut for Leinster, playing in an Interprovincial game against arch rivals Munster. Once again, Brian was on the losing side as they fell to a 31–20 defeat at Temple Hill.
Brian’s development as a player was rapid, and in the Six Nations Championship of 2000 he showed how good he was when he took to the field in what was to be a very special game of rugby in Paris. However, the game started disastrously for Ireland when David Bory scored France’s first try in the left corner after just 47 seconds. Or so they thought. Touch judge Jim Fleming ruled the final pass to be forward, but the warning was clear. This was a French side that meant business and would be tough to break down. Gérald Merceron soon put France 6–0 ahead, after Ireland were caught offside twice in as many minutes.
The first quarter of the game was a disaster for Ireland, but the game was about to change dramatically thanks largely to Brian’s breathtaking efforts. He firstly collected the ball well from a French drop-out and Peter Stringer and Peter Clohessy drove into the ensuing ruck. It sent the home side backwards and there was little to stop Brian when he appeared in the move for the second time to touch down underneath the posts.
The home side soon hit back when scrum-half Christophe Laussucq scored following a quick tap penalty. In a match of blistering pace, Kieron Dawson then came close to replying, but knocked on as he touched over for Ireland on the left.
Early in the second half, Merceron kicked over a long penalty which saw the beginning of a period of play dominated by the home side, and it wasn’t long before Merceron kicked over another penalty from right in front of the posts to stretch the French lead to 12 points.
Warren decided to bring on Paddy Johns to give experience to the flagging Irish pack, and his presence soon rubbed off on Brian. Some quality interplay between him and Rob Henderson saw him score his second of the game, silencing the French crowd. Ronan O’Gara converted to cut the lead to just six points. Although still relatively inexperienced at this level, Brian sensed this game was very winnable.
Disaster struck when Johns received a yellow card for blatantly lying on the ball. He left the field to French cheers as Merceron again increased the home lead. Warren then decided to replace Ronan with the experienced David Humphreys, who almost immediately scored a superb 40-metre penalty, but Ireland were caught offside far too often and Merceron soon put over another penalty of his own. The game looked to be heading firmly in the home side’s direction, and it looked as though Ireland’s appalling track record in France was going to remain. The last time they had won here was in 1972. Cue Brian O’Driscoll.
The French had been caught offside, after blatantly diving through a ruck. But an inspired piece of refereeing from Paul Honnis gave Stringer the opportunity to sidestep his way through a host of French tacklers, before offloading to Brian who went charging towards the try-line and secured his hat-trick. With just three minutes remaining, Humphreys converted to give Ireland a two-point lead. They managed to hang on, and won the game 27–25.
In the post-match interviews, Brian was typically shy and humble and heaped praise on David Humphreys’s brave efforts. In Brian’s eyes, David had been the hero of the day and he was keen to take the attention away from his own performance, which had just given Irish rugby one of the proudest days in its long history.
The Irish rugby fans had known that young Brian was good, but until that day they had not realised just how special he was. And they also had to remember that he was just 21 years of age, and there was plenty of room for improvement yet. Even people who didn’t really follow rugby knew who Brian was after this. He was a true national hero and, even if he never played another game of rugby in his life, his would be a name they would never forget.
For Brian, life would never be the same again. From now on, media interest in every aspect of his life would be something he was just going to have to get used to. He was still very much a shy young man, and this was something he didn’t always appreciate. But there would be an upside to it. All this attention would inevitably mean that there would be sponsorship opportunities and chances to make a great deal of money by having his name associated with big brands.
While Brian’s progress remained rapid over the next few years, the same could not be said of the Ireland team. Warren was playing