Speaking ahead of his sixth Test for the British & Irish Lions, Leinster centre Brian O’Driscoll believes that the squad has the ability to get the right result against the Springboks…
On confidence going into the game
“I think you’re always confident when you’re playing with a Lions team first and foremost but secondly some of the rugby played at the weekend showed some confidence and that we can play the game we want to. We have to bring that out from the kick off this weekend because we can’t afford to give them a 19 point lead and chase it back.”
On playing at altitude
“Hopefully it won’t have a negative impact – obviously there’s a difference playing a sea level and playing at altitude but we’ve played at altitude for the first three games of the tour and we know what it takes. We just look forward to pushing our bodies, particularly in the second half when you start feeling the effects of it.”
On moving from a wet Cape town to a cold and dry Pretoria
“I don’t think it’s going to have any kind of effect. We’re not really learning anything hugely new this week it’s just a case of trying to iron out any creases and I’m sure our team run tomorrow afternoon will be fine and all we need is a day to get ready for the conditions and we will be ready to go.”
On starting the game slow last Saturday
“We probably didn’t play early enough last weekend and that was to our detriment. Hopefully we can play earlier in the first half on Saturday, cut off the Springboks and make them work for their scores a little bit more than we did last weekend. Obviously we were hopeful to win that game but it’s done now and we are out to win Test two and three and it is as simple as that.”
