Brian O’Driscoll insists that arrogance has “for sure” seeped into Irish rugby supporters following the team’s remarkable success at Test level.
While the great centre was part of what was considered at the time a ‘golden generation’, the current crop of players have surpassed that success.
They have dominated the Six Nations for the past few years, winning Grand Slams in 2018 and 2023, and could claim another one in 2025.
Should Simon Easterby’s men secure another title this year, it would be the first time a side has gone three in a row in the Six Nations era.
Although it has not yet translated into World Cup success, with that quarter-final hoodoo remaining, they have regularly beaten southern hemisphere giants All Blacks and Springboks in between global tournaments.
Confidence turns to arrogance
That has therefore brought about a real belief in the national team, not just from the Ireland players and coaches but also the fans. However, O’Driscoll claims that it has now gone beyond simply confidence.
“For sure, not like maybe,” the legendary centre told RTE when asked if there is Irish arrogance.
“We’re not in a good place to make a decision ourselves on how we are as a team that’s going well, it’s other people who will make that decision on our behalf.
“You have to remember, with teams that have gone well, and Leinster would be the same, I don’t think there’s much love for Leinster across Europe. People will say that’s because the fans are hard to deal with.
“I hear that from my [ITV] work colleagues over in the UK, there’s not much love for Leinster and there’s less and less love for Ireland around being good winners. It’s hard for teams to enjoy very successful teams.”
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O’Driscoll compared the situation to Saracens, who won three Champions Cup titles in four years in 2016, 2017 and 2019, and formed the spine of a successful England team.
“Saracens, before all the s**t hit the fan with them, were never adored as a team in England, but they were wildly successful for a period of time,” he said.
“That just happens, successful teams will not be loved. People get a bit fed up with it.”
Humble Ireland side
O’Driscoll believes that while Ireland have remained grounded, that has not necessarily been the case for the supporters.
“I don’t see it a huge amount, but just from word of mouth, there’s things that are put out on social media and conversations that don’t showcase the best of us, certainly don’t help our case of saying, ‘No, we’re humble winners’,” he said.
“We have to be mindful of it. We’ve said the same about everybody else: ‘Scotland getting ahead of themselves, Wales being hard work, oh, England being arrogant’.
“I think we might need to internalise an awful lot of that and have a good hard look at ourselves.
“I saw the article in the Telegraph the other day [asking] are Ireland a hard team to enjoy? Are they getting ahead of themselves? I would say, the supporters, yes, the team, absolutely not.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/brian-odriscoll-hits-out-at-ireland-arrogance-and-claims-we-need-to-have-a-good-hard-look-at-ourselves
