Brian O'Driscoll is the current Ireland rugby team captain.
Having played his first rugby match at 11 years of age for Willow Park National School, he moved on to Blackrock College where he developed a passionate interest in the game of rugby. He gained international recognition for the first time in 1996 gaining 3 caps for Irish schools.
As a member of the Irish team that won the IRB under-19 World Cup in France in 1998 Brian was selected for the senior Irish squad in April 1999. In 2001 he was selected for the British and Irish Lions Tour to Australia, appearing in all 3 tests. In 2003, he was awarded the Irish captaincy. O' Driscoll then led Ireland to a second-place finish in the Six Nations, and in the process, a Triple Crown.
In 2005, O' Driscoll became Ireland's first Lions captain since Ciaran Fitzgerald in 1983 and was selected to lead the Lions on the tour to New Zealand. He has lead Ireland to two more Triple Crown triumphs in 2006 and 2007, and was named as the RBS Player of the Six Nations in both years. An ever proud Irish man, he has since signed a new contract with the IRFU that will keep him playing at Leinster until 2011.