Wounded Lion plans to make it a winter of settling scores Georgina Robinson [GR]: Congratulations on being selected for your fourth British and Irish Lions tour. Brian O'Driscoll [BOD]: Thank you, it is so nice to be able to actually say that you're part of it. GR: Is it true you didn't think you'd be picked? Veteran campaigner: Brian O'Driscoll troops off after losing the first Test to South Africa in 2009. The Irishman is set to embark on his fourth Lions tour, a record which has contained plenty of ups and downs. BOD: I suppose I was very hopeful but there's always an element of doubt because you don't know what a coach is thinking. In '05 I was captain so I knew I was in, and in '09 I was told by [coach] Ian McGeechan that I wasn't going to be captain so I knew he wasn't going to drop me from 'You're not captain' to 'By the way, you're not in the squad' in separate conversations. But this time around there'd been radio silence from Warren Gatland so when you don't hear there's always an element of doubt. GR: You're only the third player to play in four. BOD: Yes, but I suppose I look at it and I've been on three tours but I've been on three losing tours, and it's hard to get away from that - so a fourth tour is all about going and winning. I'm delighted to be part of it and to have the opportunity to fight for my place in the Test team and help towards a series win, because the Lions need to go back to their winning ways. I think it's important for the franchise. Wounded Lion: Skippering the Lions in 2005, O'Driscoll sustained a dislocated shoulder in the first minutes of the first Test following a controversial tackle by Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu - an injury which rubbed him out for the remainder of the tour. GR: Some were surprised you weren't named as captain. BOD: The thing about the captaincy is it's such a huge, huge honour that it's impossible you could ever turn it down. But there are huge pressures that come with being Lions captain. There's a big onus on you to try to get everyone to gel, to try to get certain people on side immediately, and the captain always needs the experienced players to buy into his way of thinking. And my wife [actress Amy Huberman] told me I was the oldest person on tour, which I was absolutely disgusted to be, so there's definitely a responsibility on me being a previous captain, to try to help Sam [Warburton] out, and likewise [2009 series captain] Paul O'Connell. It's not a one-man job, there's a focal point of one person but in any successful team there's always three, four, five leaders littered throughout the side. GR: Have you had much to do with [Welsh captain] Warburton? Young Lion: O'Driscoll outstrips an equally youthful Phil Waugh during his first Lions tour, in 2001. Photo: Simon Alekna BOD: Very little. I've played against him a few times and chatted to him afterwards, we had an adidas shoot recently and had a quick chat, but it's been limited. But from what I've heard he commands great respect amongst his peers within Wales. GR: How do you go about bonding as a squad, creating a team culture in a short space of time? BOD: Over the years we've done a variety of things, team-building exercises, going out to dinner, having a few drinks and the old-school aspect of that, because there's nothing like sharing a few laughs out on the town. It can be difficult ... You have to make an extra effort and leave your nationality at the door and become a Lion. GR: Over your three tours have you uncovered any universal truths about the Lions experience? BOD: If I'm brutally honest the aura of what the Lions was perceived to be probably didn't really register with me until the tour in 2009, which I enjoyed the most. The first one [to Australia] was a learning experience and I was just a young kid and I kept myself to myself and listened and answered when spoken to, whereas as captain I had a very different experience in '05. In '09 I didn't have the pressure of the captaincy on me and I was able to be a bit freer and we had a really tight squad and I really understood what being a Lion was about. I've definitely seen things that have gone wrong and been corrected in subsequent tours. Small things like you really need to be rooming together to get to know guys from other countries ... because you can have preconceived notions as to who people are. GR: Can you remember a player you had sized up incorrectly? BOD: [Welsh halfback] Mike Phillips, you see him playing with the narkiness and the edge he has, he's very confrontational, he's the sort of guy you'd really like to dislike, but then you realise he's good fun and quite different. GR: After experiencing three series losses, is there anything you think could make the difference this time around? BOD: You just have to have a very clear understanding of the way you want to play the game. We all need to be singing off the same hymn sheet. And because it's such a short time you're together, not having too complex a game plan, but at the same time, building in scope for guys to be able to read what they see in front of them. These are the cream of players in the home nations and they have to be given a little bit of scope to play what they see. But with regards to plans, keeping it fairly simple because you don't have that much time to bed it down. I think that's key. And especially this time because you know you're playing - well I have always thought this - the smartest rugby team, more often than not, in world rugby. They're good thinkers, they're not like the South Africans with the same level of physicality that they bring, and then with New Zealand it's just a slight different brand, but from a smarts point of view on a rugby pitch I always thought Australia make a lot of really good calls. GR: You're just trying to butter us up, Brian. BOD: That's it - is it working? GR: Probably. How about the Wallabies individually, how do you size up their threats? BOD: Will Genia is probably one of their most dangerous players. He epitomises their way of playing and their decision-making. When he's going well invariably Australia are going well. Adam Ashley-Cooper is Mr Consistent and has been for a lot of years now, irrespective of where he plays. In the pack it's been fairly interchangeable in recent years and with a guy like David Pocock gone you don't know whether George Smith is going to come back in there. He's a phenomenal rugby player, to be still going in an attritional position like a flanker for as many years as he has is quite amazing. For him to still be able to get out of bed in the morning let alone potentially play Test rugby again ... GR: I just watched again that try you scored in the first Test at the Gabba in Brisbane [in 2001] and I think you beat George Smith in that instance. BOD: I think his leg got stuck underneath someone, he probably would have got me only he got slowed down because someone fell on him. GR: That's terribly deferential. BOD: Well you know this year I've had the try sent to me on Twitter so many times I can pretty much dissect everything that happens. [Wallabies centre] Nathan Grey picked up a knock out on the wing and was just getting back into the defensive line, so I managed to get between him and [hooker] Jeremy Paul and one of them fell on George Smith. Then [fullback] Matt Burke came charging in and I thought, 'I'd better get out of the way of this guy or he's going to kill me'. Somehow I managed to keep my momentum going and got in. GR: That must be one of your best moments out of the three series? BOD: Yeah, and the reason it was is that the Australian defence had been so lauded from the 1999 World Cup, they were considered to be the best defensive team in the world, so just to be able to score a try against them and get it from 35 or 40 metres out and beat a couple of players was nice. GR: Your worst series moment? BOD: I don't think you have to be a genius to work out my worst series moment ... GR: New Zealand [2005] ... BOD: Yeah, well, I only got 90 seconds to captain the Lions, which was a bit crap. [O'Driscoll was spear-tackled by All Blacks captain Tana Umaga and hooker Keven Mealamu less than two minutes into the first Test. He dislocated his shoulder and sat out the rest of the series.] GR: Injury marred another series, didn't it? You had to withdraw from the final Test in South Africa with concussion. BOD: I've played only six [Lions] Tests and managed to win one game. One from six isn't anything to shout about so I need to try and do my best to get involved and get the balance up a bit. GR: You've made an incredible contribution, though, to all of those sides. BOD: Yeah, but you judge yourself not on being selected but on winning things, and it took me a long time in my career to win anything of great substance. I won a couple of triple crowns with Ireland throughout the noughties then finally won a [Six Nations] grand slam and managed to win a couple of Heineken Cups, but it's come later in my career. And I'm only too happy that if I have to wait for a fourth tour to be part of a winning Test series team then so be it. It will have been worth the wait.