A World Cup with Joe Schmidt is one regret Brian O’Driscoll will have

Brian O’Driscoll, left, is impressed with Joe Schmidt’s attention to detail. David Rogers / Getty Images

Brian O’Driscoll does not have cause for many regrets from his playing career.

There is the obvious one, of course, when he was ditched from the side just before what was going to be his final British & Irish Lions match.

Plus the time he had his shoulder dislocated by a spear tackle in New Zealand, also while on Lions duty.

Other than that, everything was pretty stellar. The former Ireland captain is happy in retirement, too, but has just the one thing which he would have changed.

Ideally, the ageing process would have postponed its work for one more year, and he could have been part of a potentially major 12 months for Ireland.

Last year was an exceptional one for the Irish team. They won the Six Nations, with a 13-10 away loss to England the only blemish, while their nine wins included victories over Australia and South Africa.

Perpetuating that success in a World Cup year will be a tough ask, but O’Driscoll thinks there is one notable reason for optimism. Namely, the fact that Joe Schmidt is the coach.

“It is a regret I’m not going into a World Cup with Joe Schmidt coaching the team,” said O’Driscoll, whose said his two quarter-final exits in World Cups represented underachievement.

“His attention to detail is unrivalled. If there is a professional game of rugby going on, he has seen it.

“If you call him and tell him about a play you have seen, he will know about it. He has a photographic memory about rugby.”

Schmidt, who coached O’Driscoll with provincial side Leinster first, then Ireland from 2013, oversaw Six Nations success during his first campaign in charge last year.

That tournament was notable for the fact that Ireland conceded the fewest penalties and turnovers of any side.

Their title defence, which starts in Italy tomorrow, should benefit from a favourable draw, too.

They host France and England in Dublin, and have had plenty of success in Cardiff in the recent past.

“He is a phenomenal thinker on the game and what players like about him is that it is not just the guys who have scored the tries and get the headlines,” O’Driscoll said of his former coach.

“It is the ones who have cleaned out rucks that have lead to the tries.

“He will have a quiet word to that guy and say, ‘I know that wouldn’t have been a try if you hadn’t done that.’ He is a real players’ coach.”

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