Brian O'Driscoll's savage reply to hearing Peter O'Mahony & Sam Cane are burying the hatchet as he references old foe
BRIAN O'Driscoll cracked a joke about a former nemesis of his while reacting to word of Peter O'Mahony and Sam Cane becoming the unlikeliest of teammates.
O'Mahony infamously taunted the All Black skipper during
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Cane was clearly fulled by O'Mahony's jibe when the two sides met in France a year later
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The 35-year-old will be hoping to sign off with Munster by helping on a storybook URC play-off run
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Earlier this month O'Driscoll was inducted into Leinster Rugby's Hall of Fame
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O'Driscoll harked back to Tana Umaga's spear tackle that ended his 2005 Lions tour after only 41 seconds
Credit: AP:Associated Press
While O'Mahony and Ireland took that battle, the All Blacks ultimately won the war as Cane and his charges
It's since been widely remarked that the flanker producing one of the best performances of his career was largely down to him
That's why Thursday's news that
Responding to the idea of them packing down in the same back-row, Brian O'Driscoll harked back to his own notorious clash with a legendary All Black.
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While appearing on
Replying in deadpan fashion, he said: "Yeah I don't know if you know this but myself and Tana Umaga are actually the coaches for that Barbarians tour."
After the laughter subsided he then continued: "Ah listen, things are said on the pitch.
"I think often more is made of it in the press than actually meets the eye amongst players.
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It'll be an opportunity for Pete and Sam Cane to bury the hatchet and spend a bit of time together.
"Sometimes the issue is that it's so transient that there's no opportunity for players to get to know one another.
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"Certainly when you play southern hemisphere opposition the chance to hang out for a week and room with people that you wouldn't ordinarily room with is enlightening around the people behind the players.
"It'll be a little bit akin to the Lions tour because you'll have preconceived notions around people but actually, you don't really know them.
"You only see them in interviews and what they're like on the field.
"And sometimes that doesn't always lead to you forming a favourable view of them."
The 46-year-old was then quizzed on if he and Umaga had ever mended fences after the latter and Keven Mealamu had brutally injured his shoulder less than a minute into the first Test between the Lions and New Zealand back in 2005.
Alluding to them eventually meeting up post-retirement, he added: "Yeah, yeah it's all good. It took a while for us to properly get closure.
"It dragged on unnecessarily as we live on opposite sides of the world but yeah, we text each other the odd time nowadays."
It'll serve as the final match in O'Mahony's lengthy career while the scrum-half will continue on playing with
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