Making life unpleasant for Brian (From Western Telegraph)

Making life unpleasant for Brian

9:48pm Wednesday 10th March 2010 in

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LEE Byrne and Wales are determined to be party-poopers on Saturday as they aim to ensure Brian O’Driscoll doesn’t celebrate his 100th Irish cap on Saturday with a win.

Centre O’Driscoll, 32, is one of the games all-time greats and been through the whole gamut of emotions during his roller-coaster rugby career.

Things got off to a great start in one of his early caps back in 2000 when the 21-year-old scored a hat trick of tries as Ireland beat France for the first time in 28 years.

A year later he marked his Lions debut with a spectacular performance and try as the best of Britain and Ireland smashed Australia 29-13 in the first Test.

Last year he led Ireland to only their second Grand Slam when they beat Wales in a nail-bitter at Cardiff before playing a key role in Leinster’s Heineken Cup triumph and starring in last summer’s epic Lions Test series against South Africa.

But there have been some big lows as well, the nadir his dislocated shoulder injury in 2005 after a terrible ‘spear’ tackle.

The Lions skipper was picked up and dumped to the ground by All Blacks captain Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu in the opening seconds of the first Test.

And while fullback Byrne is full of respect for his 2009 Lions comrade, he said he and Wales won’t be in a charitable mood when BOD marks his ton in front of his home fans: “It is Brian’s 100th game but we can’t have any sentiment. He is going to be fired up for the game and it is going to be a big occasion for him.

“He has deserved his 100th cap and he has been a great player for Ireland and the Lions. We will have to have our minds on the game.”

Wales won the Triple Crown in Dublin in 2008, before going on to claim the Grand Slam, and Byrne thinks they can cause an upset on the weekend.

He said: “We need to take the way we are finishing games to the way we are starting games. If we do that we can break any team down.

“We have to pull together and stay together as a team. Shane Williams is on fire at the moment so let’s give him the ball.”

Byrne, 29, added: “It is about not letting Ireland get a lead at Croke Park because we won’t be able to come back from 20 points down. We know we are underdogs but personally, man for man, we are as good as Ireland.”