O'Driscoll heaps praise on team-mates
Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll praised his tem-mates after a thrilling 15-10 win over world champions South Africa at Croke Park. By Damian Dolan - 30/11/09
O’Driscoll lauded his sides performance after they were forced to produce some real back to the wall defence as South Africa pulled for a late try.
“They came at us in the first half but Jono (Jonathan Sexton) kicked the goals to keep us in touch,” said O’Driscoll. “I thought we played some great stuff in the second half.
“We possibly could have picked up a try or two in the second half. Jono kept the scoreboard ticking over, as much as I would have loved him to have given us an eight-point margin. It was good the way the boys hung on at the death and didn't give up.”
It may have been the last match on a long tour for the Springboks, but with a score to settle from the Lions summer tour, there was no shortage of friction between the sides.
“There were plenty of different incidents but that is for others to sort out,” said O’Driscoll.
“You always know you are going to get a physical game against them. We weren't stepping back. When people come to our patch, you don't want them pushing you around.
“Our unbeaten run is a credit to all the players, management and everybody involved. We’re far from the finished article but we're going in the direction we want to go.”
The star of the show for Ireland was fly half Jonathan Sexton, starting
ahead of Ronan O’Gara for only his second Test appearance. Sexton justified Declan Kidney’s selection by kicking all of his sides points with five penalties. But the Ireland head coach wasn’t about to heap praise on the Leinster number ten“We might have won by more if Ronan was playing. We said 12 months ago we're trying to develop a squad,” said Kidney.
“We see it as a blessing that we have a world-class fly-half and an up and coming fly-half. We’ll need both of them.
“We’ll enjoy tonight. It was a tough, physical game. The boys were tired but they played very well.”
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